Broken
by OriginalDeadman
Summary: Ch. 8 up 1st fanfic, based on vol. 7 & of the manga with slight DBZ crossover. When Keitaro's life starts to fall apart, can a young soul in limbo help guide him through the darkness. Please R&R!
1. Origin of the Dark Angel

**Note:** This is my first fanfic, so please give a review after reading. Basically, I got the idea from the 12 Stones song "Broken". A songfic just wasn't going to work in this situation, so I took the meanings I got from this song and used it as the central idea to create this fic. This fic will cross a little bit with my DBZ fic I'm planning on doing in the future and may provide a spoiler or two for it.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Love Hina, Dragonball Z, or many of the characters in this story. Only a couple of the characters in this story are mine.

**Chapter One: Origin of the Dark Angel**

* * *

There comes a time in almost every person's life where it seems like everything is falling apart. Every goal, dream, and desire seem to turn to dust right in front of our eyes. In other words, it seems like our lives are being broken by God. When this happens, God doesn't do it to punish us; he does it to strengthen our souls or to bring our souls closer to him. This time is meant to remove the weaknesses in our souls. However, many people are unable to handle what happens to them and end their lives in a weak manner, sending their souls to a dark afterlife. 

Oh, I forgot to tell you who I am. My name's Derrick. On the surface, I may seem like a normal human, but in actuality, I'm a third generation demi-Saiyan. For those of you who don't know, Saiyans are an extinct humanoid race that possessed fighting abilities that are exponentially greater than any human. Many know about the two Saiyan bloodlines who took residence on Earth years ago, but my bloodline was on its way to never being discovered. By an act of fate, Vegeta, the Saiyan crown prince and one of the last two Saiyans to survive the home planet's destruction, found out about my family in America and my destiny to defeat a terrible evil that would strike the Earth. He took me under his wing and started to train me when I was 5 in order unlock my potential power. I received some type of training from every member of the Z Fighters and developed a wide variety of attacks and strategies. At age 9, my training got even more serious in order to unlock the powers I needed to defeat this evil. Slowly but surely, my body began to unlock the Super Saiyan powers that lay dormant. Genetic mutations that had went unnoticed for years began to surface; the most notable being regenerative, telepathic, and telekinetic abilities. I even learned a very rare technique called "Inner Light", which could destroy any type of evil.

However, all was not well during this time. The first of my internal struggles began shortly after my grandfather died. My first major battle occurred shortly after this happened (against a former enemy of the Z Fighters), and during it I was betrayed by two people I though were my friends. They made a pact with an evil force that granted them with malicious powers to use against me. The sadness in my heart caused by my grandfather's death, along with the anger and sorrow from my friends' betrayal, drove me to the breaking point. I started to lose control of keeping my life as a warrior and as a normal person together. Something else also ate away at me: so much of my life focused on this destined opponent and winning. What was meant for me afterward? My normal life started to seem meaningless. Fate was giving me more questions than answers. That was when the real life demons began to torment me. The only good that came from this mess was the meteoric increase of my Super Saiyan powers and the development of my brothers' powers so that they could fight along side me.

5 years after my serious training began and 1 year after my breakdown began, the cursed demon I was set to do battle with arrived. Before the battle, I made my family and the Z fighters swear not to wish me back with the Dragonballs if I died. This demon's power was superior to everyone, including Master Vegeta. During the battle, I was able to transform into a Super Saiyan 4, but even that wasn't enough. With my body weakening and my resolve to fight (or live for that matter) quickly fading, I opened a gateway between Earth and Other World with my Inner Light technique. Everyone was able to stun my opponent with one last desperate attack, allowing me to attempt a final, and risky, attack. I began to transform my soul into an energy attack (a technique I developed during my training) with the sole attempt to send this demon through that gate. I had no intent of doing my attack correctly, which meant that my soul would be ripped away from my body. With a silent farewell to my friends and family, I launched my attack. The last images I had on Earth were of me and this demon traveling through the gate together while my soulless body collapsed to the ground…

The next thing I remembered was being in heaven and God wasn't very happy with me. Despite being a saved soul in his eyes, I thought for sure I was going to hell for my covert suicide. However, I was given the chance to redeem my soul. I found out that I was going to be appointed to be something called a "Dark Angel". This was a group primarily of souls who accepted God's love but failed the test to strengthen their souls. They were forced to wander Earth until they found someone whose pain equaled the pain that soul felt on Earth. Given my circumstances and my vast power, it was going to be very hard to find a person whose pain would match mine. Preparations were put into place to get me ready. First, a replica of my body was created for me to use back on Earth. This body contained many of the powers I had back on Earth, but had distinct markings designed to identify me as a Fallen Angel replacing the tattoos I had on Earth (I was able to pass Vegeta off as my dad on a few so I could get some tattoos – a cross with my initials on my right arm, a dragon on my left arm, and my family coat-of-arms on my back). One thing that I was glad to see was a replica of a gift my grandfather gave me, a silver chain with a ruby-encrusted cross. Finally, since an angel had to supervise a "Dark Angel", the archangel Gabriel was appointed to help me with any problems that would arise in my search.

My return to Earth was miserable. I wasn't allowed anywhere near my family or my home. Actually, I wasn't allowed to be in a radius of 500 miles near my home. I couldn't even use my telepathy to sense what was going on with them. The only thing I was allowed to do was feel the pain that my selfish actions caused them. For days, then weeks, then months, I wandered Earth, unable to find a person I would be allowed to help. Then, shortly after New Year's Day 2000, it happened. I was in Tokyo, Japan when suddenly a pain gripped my very being. It wasn't a physical pain, but it was the pain I was desperately looking for. It was the same pain I felt months earlier in my life. I frantically followed the aura all the way to an inn in the hot springs section of the city. I waited at the top of the steps leading to the inn, hiding in a tree to conceal myself, to catch a glimpse of the person I needed to help. A young man, who appeared to be roughly the same age of my oldest brother, appeared at the top of the steps. My ability to sense his pain immediately saw through the smile on his face. I know this young man can't last too much longer with that type of pain in his heart. God, give me the strength I need to guide him…

* * *

**A/N - Alright, 1st ch. up. Please give a review. Also, I would like some input about whether or not you like the Dark Angel character. He's an AU prototype for the DBZ fic I'm planning and wanted to test the waters with him here.  
****- OD**


	2. Shadows Rising

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Love Hina or many of the characters in this story. Only a couple of the characters in this story are mine.

"…" – Character talking

'…' – Character thinking

**Chapter Two: Shadows Rising**

* * *

Keitaro Urashima, the third year ronin and girls dorm manager, made his way into Hinata Sou after a hard day of school and work. He set his books down near the couch and made his way to the kitchen for a snack. 

"Hey Sempai, how was your day today?" Keitaro looked to see Shinobu Maehara, a 14 year old resident and full-time cook, preparing supper.

"Kinda exhausting. I had to help Seta get some loose ends tied up before he went overseas on another dig. Where's everyone else?"

"Let's see, Kitsune and Mutsumi are in the hot springs, Motoko's talking to Naru, and Su and Sarah – God only knows," Shinobu stated.

"Well, I'm heading to my room to try and rest some. Let me know when supper's ready." Keitaro finished up his snack and headed out of the kitchen. Keitaro was getting ready to head up the stairway when a pair of feet send him flying backward. After crashing to the ground, he looks up to see the resident troublemakers, Kaolla Su and Sarah McDougal, with full-blown grins on their faces.

Su starts up first; "Hey Keitaro, got a new invention ready. Care to be the first experiment?"

"You didn't bother Papa at work today, did you dork?" Sarah chimed in.

"Su, I really don't have time now; maybe tomorrow I'll make a good guinea pig. As for your question Sarah, Seta and I really didn't have any problems today. We just finished packing up stuff for his next dig." Keitaro moves his hands behind him to get ready to push up when he feels two rather soft objects beneath him. He then looked to notice that Su and Sarah sent him crash landing onto Mitsune Konno and Mutsumi Otohime (both of them wrapped in towels and exiting the hot springs), knocking the latter out cold.

"You know Keitaro, you didn't have to force yourself on us if you wanted some action." Kitsune stated in her usual drunken tone.

"Don't start this with me! Now get up and help me get Mutsumi over to the couch!" Keitaro slapped a hand over his nose to prevent any bleeding that would result from Kitsune's lewd suggestions. After moving Mutsumi over to the couch, he grabbed his bookbag and headed upstairs.

'Man, I didn't know that trying to get to my room has become an exercise regimen,' Keitaro though to himself as he flopped down on his futon. The instant he hit it, he heard the board over the hole in the ceiling move.

"Keitaro, is that you?" That was the voice of Naru Narusegawa, an 18 year old resident who was one of the best students in the nation, who has been the cause of much of the pain and emotion he has felt since moving to Hinata Sou.

"Urashima, what was all that noise that I heard downstairs? You didn't do anything perverted did you?" These questions came from the resident swordswoman Motoko Aoyama, who was a member of the Shinmeiryu Dojo in Kyoto, and another cause of pain for the young ronin.

"Yeah, it's me and no, I didn't do anything perverted. Su and Sarah were just giving me their usual greeting, then Kitsune and I had to help Mutsumi with another one of her fainting spells." Keitaro was just happy that neither of them saw him lying on top of them earlier. "I don't mean to be rude or anything, but you two try not to be too loud. I want to try and get a nap before supper." Keitaro stated before flopping his head back onto the futon.

* * *

Two Hours Later

Supper for the Hinata crowd went by without any problems, except when Mutsumi walked in without any clothes on and caused a river of blood to come out of Keitaro's nose. After he finished eating, Keitaro got up to get ready for his study session with Mutsumi and Naru. "The meal was excellent, Shinobu. Someday you're gonna be rich and famous for your cooking."

"Oh, why thank you Sempai." Shinobu exclaimed, blushing uncontrollably. As she turned and started back to the kitchen, she stepped on one of Kitsune's empty sake bottles. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Fortunately, Keitaro was close enough to Shinobu to reach under her arms and keep her from falling to the floor. "Thank you Sempai that was cl…." The young girl is interrupted by Naru and Motoko, both of them standing up and giving Keitaro a death glare.

"You no good pervert! Unhand her now!"

Keitaro then notices why they are so pissed off: he inadvertently grabbed one of Shinobu's breasts when he reached under her arms. "Wait a minute, please! This isn't what it looks like!" His plea is cut short by a wave of ki energy from Motoko's sword, which sends him flying through the wall and to an unknown origin.

After a few minutes pass, the girls hear a door open as Keitaro walks back into the inn. "In case any of you care, I'm fine! My neck broke my fall! Narusegawa! Mutsumi! Let me know when ya'll are ready to study, okay!" The rest of the girls sat in the dining room giving each other confused looks and thinking to themselves 'he sounded like he was fairly angry.'

As Keitaro headed up the stairs, he could only think about the same thing over and over. 'Why don't they ever listen to me! More importantly, why can't they open their eyes and see once in a while! Shinobu could've hurt herself tripping on Kitsune's empty bottle. I guess none of them care if poor Shinobu cracks her head wide open on the floor or a countertop!'

* * *

3 Hours Later - After the Incident at Supper

Keitaro, Mutsumi, and Naru are all together in Naru's room finishing up their study session for the night. Mutsumi has noticed that Keitaro isn't quite his normal self and is somewhat concerned. Naru, on the other hand, has noticed but is more concerned with the last problem in her workbook.

"Ara, you didn't get hurt too bad tonight, did you Kei-kun?"

Keitaro looks up in response to Mutsumi's question. "No, not really. It's amazing. You'd think that as much as I get hit, I would have wound up in Hawaii by now? This punching bag could use a vacation."

Naru then chimes in, half giggling. "Well, you can save your vacation until after the entrance exams. Unless you want to be denied entry into Tokyo U for a 4th time."

"Yeah, I guess you're right. Although I must admit that I feel very confident about my chances this time around. Well, I think I'll call it a night," Keitaro said as he tried to sit up from the table. He found out the hard way that his foot was asleep when he tried to walk and instead fell face first into Naru's chest. He immediately fell to the floor and tried to scoot away from Naru's burning glare, only to back into Mutsumi and sticking a hand up her skirt in the process.

"YOU PERVERT!" Naru's voice sounded almost demonic as she prepared to send Keitaro on another bad trip.

What Keitaro said: "It was an accident Narusegawa! Please don't hurt me!"  
What he though: 'Dear God no! Not this shit again!'

Naru's punch sent him bouncing around the room several times before he bounced through the hole between his and Naru's bedrooms and crashed into the floor. "Uuuuggghhh. Good night, Naru. Good night, Mutsumi."

"Ara, good night Kei-kun."

"Shut up and go to sleep, baka!"

Keitaro got up off the floor and headed for his desk. 'Damn it, damn it, damn it! Why won't she ever listen to me! Sometimes I wish I knew for sure that Naru wasn't my promised girl because of things like that!' His thoughts were interrupted when he reached into the drawer and pulled out a small knife. He pulled the cuff of his shirt sleeve up far enough to expose his left wrist and with two quick swipes of the knife split open the skin. He then threw the knife back into the desk and just stood there, watching the blood flow down his arm. The sensation he got from cutting his wrists and watching the blood flow from his self-inflicted wounds brought an eerie calm to his tortured soul. It had been like this for him for several months now. It was his only solace for the pain he felt because he thought that no one at Hinata Sou cared (or would care) about his feelings, with the lone exception being Tama, the resident hot springs turtle. 'If they only knew that my heart wasn't as immortal as my body,' Keitaro thought to himself as he pulled his sleeve back down and headed to the dresser to get his pajamas. He was quickly interrupted by an all-too-familiar voice.

"Hey baka, you left this up here." Naru leaned down through the hole and tossed him a math workbook. When Keitaro went to catch it, Naru noticed the blood stain on his sleeve. "Oh my God! Keitaro, your arm's bleeding!"

"Oh, that. I cut my arm packing some supplies for Seta earlier. I guess my crash landings tonight must have opened it back up." Naru tries to apologize before she is cut off. "Look Narusegawa, you don't need to apologize for anything. I'm sorry for what happened just now." Keitaro said, his pride sinking lower with every word.

"Don't worry about. Just don't try it again, okay? Good night Keitaro."

"Good night."

Keitaro changes into his pajamas and lays down on his futon. Despite the pain the girls cause him, he still hates lying to them about cutting his wrists. He always blames it on a cut suffered while working or that it was blood from a nosebleed. He wishes he could tell them the truth, but he his so convinced that the others wouldn't care. As he starts to drift to sleep, he takes one last look at his left wrist, which already closing up due to his healing ability, and at his right one, with some of the past scars starting to fade away. 'Well as long as nobody ever knows.'

Unfortunately, someone did notice Keitaro's actions.

'You can hide from some, but you can't hide from all, my friend.'

* * *

Since Derrick wasn't allowed to interact with anyone at Hinata Sou until after the tests on Keitaro's soul were over, Gabriel transformed him into a ghost so he could enter the inn and spy on the hapless ronin. After seeing everything he needed to see, he teleported to a wooded area nearby. Back in his normal state, the young Dark Angel takes a seat below a nearby tree and is joined momentarily by his angel supervisor. 

"Well my young friend, what do you think about your assignment?"

"I've got to give him some credit Gabriel. After reading his mind and witnessing everything today, his life has been absolute hell for years. His soul has held up for a long time, even longer than mine did. And it's all because of that 15 year old promise with that girl."

"Well, confidentially my young friend, one of those girls he was with is the one he made the promise to. You'll be surprised to find out which one it is." Gabriel couldn't help but chuckle as the Fallen Angel had a look of complete shock on his face. "Any idea on how you're going to help him, Derrick?"

Derrick finally snaps back to reality. "I really don't know yet. He's holding so much inside and he's afraid to share it with anyone. It's really a shame that I can't interact with him or those girls at all until after he takes that college entrance exam."

"Unfortunately, those are the rules. That exam is the last part of his soul's test." Gabriel said. "However, we have faith that you can accomplish your task and help this young man."

Derrick grabs the cross pendant on his chain and holds it to where he can see the moonlight reflect off the silver and rubies. 'Well, that makes a few of us. I can only hope that I find that faith in myself quickly. I've only got one month to get my plans together.'


	3. Yet I Fail Time After Time

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Love Hina or many of the characters in this story. Only a couple of the characters in this story are mine.

"…" – Character talking

'…' – Character thinking

**Chapter Three: Yet I Fail Time After Time**

* * *

A few weeks after the spy mission

Derrick, decked out in all black clothing and a red bandana, is nervously pacing back and forth in the foyer of a heavenly mansion. He has spent the last few weeks getting his plan into place. Even though he knew exactly what he wanted to do, he continuously had doubts about its success. 'Everything about my plan seems so circumstantial. I know he'll be near a trusted person after he leaves Japan, but he may end his life without any of those girls around to stop him. It amazes me how much they impact his decision making.' Derrick's thought are quickly cut short by the sound of an elderly voice.

"Boy, you need to stop with all that pacing before you wear out a hole in the floor."

"Sorry Papa. I'm so nervous about my assignment that could kill me if I wasn't dead already." He then walks toward the table where his grandfather sat down and takes a seat across from him.

"Derrick, you need to stop all of this worrying; you'll turn into your grandma." The young Saiyan couldn't help but start laughing at the remark, knowing firsthand how his grandmother overreacts in certain situations. "Besides, didn't I always tell you that you can do anything you set your mind to?"

"Yeah, you're right. You know Papa, you always seem to have the right words to say to boost my spirits." Derrick starts to say something else, but is interrupted by Gabriel standing in a nearby doorway. "Sorry to interrupt this family reunion, but we need to get back to Earth quickly." Derrick sighs as he leaves the table and heads for the front door.

"Remember what I said, Derrick. I have faith in you. You're my boy and that ain't no joke!" The elderly soul started to chuckle as the Dark Angel grabbed his leather coat from the coat hangar.

"Sure isn't," Derrick replied with a laugh, with memories of this childhood catch phrase system with his grandfather starting to fill his head.

Outside of the mansion, Derrick's smile is quickly replaced with a vexed attitude. "What gives? I thought we didn't have to go back to Earth for a while?" he snapped while putting on the long black coat.

"A very serious situation has arisen with the Urashima kid. We need to get there just in case," the archangel said calmly as both of them disappeared in a flash of light.

* * *

Meanwhile, At Hinata Sou

Keitaro's day had truly felt like hell on Earth. He was only supposed to have a normal day spending some time with his friends, Shirai and Haitani. Unfortunately, as soon as they arrived, trouble started. Shirai and Kitsune got into a drinking contest and started causing all types of trouble. Haitani was running from his life from Motoko, who accused him of spying on Su, Shinobu, and Sarah in the hot springs. The final straw came when Shirai and Kitsune caused an "accident" in which Keitaro fell onto Naru in a compromising position. As usual, a Naru Punch sent the poor ronin flying, only for him to then be tag teamed by attacks from Naru and Motoko. They then demanded that Keitaro apologize for his actions. At this point, a part of Keitaro snaps.

"What do you mean apologize! I didn't do a damn thing wrong this time! I don't see you two attacking Shirai or Kitsune for the prank that started this! This is bullshit!"

Keitaro stopped to catch his breath after this tirade, his eyes giving a look of pure anger. Everyone is completely shocked by this sudden outburst. Kitsune's eyes are fully open, Shirai and Haitani are looking at the floor in disbelief, and the younger girls have tears welling up in their eyes. Mutsumi faints due to the shock, and Naru and Motoko have the same angry looks on their faces. As Keitaro starts to head to the stairs and go to his room, he is then blindsided by attacks from Naru and Motoko, which propel him into his room the hard way.

"How dare you yell at us like that, you selfish bastard!" Naru was livid. "Come on everyone, let's go somewhere until this jerk learns to apologize!"

After they all exit the building, Keitaro starts to lose it. After downing a bottle of sake he stole from Kitsune, he immediately heads to retrieve his blood-stained knife. He then starts with one slash, then another, and another. Then he puts the knife in his other wrist and starts doing the same thing. As the blood begins pouring from his wrists, he lets out a blood curdling scream and throws the knife into a nearby wall. Anger, despair, sadness, and exhaustion all overtake the young man as starts to cry and passes out in the middle of the room. Not once did he hear Haruka enter the building from the teashop to find out what was happening.

An hour later, Keitaro wakes up to find himself in bed. The first thing he notices is the bandages covering both wrists. He then glances to his right to see Haruka, cigarette in hand and eyes fixed on him. "A-A-Aunt Haruka?"

"First off, that Haruka to you and second, what the hell were you doing to yourself!"

Keitaro just looked up at the ceiling and started to tell her everything that happened that day: the accidents, the arguments, and that release of anger. "Could you keep this a secret from the girls? I'd prefer that they don't know about this," the younger Urashima pleads.

"Even though I don't think it's a good idea, I won't tell them. Now try and get some rest Keitaro." Haruka quietly exited the room at the same time the girls returned to the building.

"Hey baka, ready to apologize yet?" Naru barked out as she and Motoko made their way up the stairs. Their journey to the manager's room was quickly halted by a cold, unforgiving stare from Haruka.

"Keitaro just told me about what happened earlier and got so worked up over it that he made himself sick. Now, nobody better bother him at all for the rest of the evening and first thing in the morning, you two better apologize. Got it!"

Naru and Motoko looked at the floor to hide their shame. "Yes ma'am."

* * *

A few hours later

Keitaro is woken up by a sound from above. He sits up to collect his bearing in the dark room, which is only illuminated by a small lamp on his nightstand. About a minute passes before he hears the board over the hole start to move. He quickly wraps his hands in blankets to hide his bandages.

"Keitaro, you're up?" The sound of Naru's voice had some genuine concern to it.

"Yeah, I just heard a noise from your room and it woke me up." Keitaro replied with a half-hearted grin.

"Oh, sorry. Mutsumi and I just finished studying for the night. That was her leaving. Hey, Shinobu fixed you a plate for supper, but you never came down. Want me to bring it up?" Realizing that he hadn't eaten anything since this morning, Keitaro was more than happy to oblige.

After Naru pushed the board back over the hole, Keitaro quickly unwrapped the bandages on his wrists. Amazingly, his cuts had already healed up and weren't even noticeable in the dim light. He quickly stuffed the bandages under his blankets as Naru walked into the room with his food. "Hey Keitaro, I just wanted to say sorry about what happened earlier." Keitaro nearly choked on a mouthful of rice as those words left Naru's mouth.

"Eh, you're forgiven. Besides, I had no right to snap at everyone like that."

"Anyway, I hate that you felt so bad afterwards. The study session tonight just didn't seem right without you." Keitaro was starting to wonder Naru had suffered a psychological episode due to the way she was acting. His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of Tama plopping onto Naru's head.

"Oh, hey Tama," both Keitaro and Naru said, noticing that the turtle was eyeing the former's plate of food.

"Oh my, we forgot to feed poor little Tama today."

"Poor little Tama? Last time I checked, she wasn't part of that battle royal earlier." Keitaro quipped as he grabbed a pack of rice cakes off of the nightstand and gave one to the flying turtle.

'He's got a point,' Naru thought to herself.

"Well, it's getting late. You need to get some sleep."

"Yeah, you're right, Keitaro. Besides, you need to be well rested if you're going to pass the entrance exams this year."

"Don't worry about that. Besides, I promised that we would both get in this year, didn't I. Anyway, good night Narusegawa."

"Good night, Kei-kun," Naru said half-jokingly as she gently kissed him on the forehead and exited the room, with Tama in pursuit.

As Keitaro move the empty plate aside and laid his head back down on his pillow, the only thing he could do as think and smile as he drifted to sleep. 'It's moments like this which make me hope that Naru is my promised girl.'

Meanwhile, Derrick and Gabriel (both in ghost forms) are conversing in a nearby corner.

"When the time comes, should I tell him about the promised girl or should you?"

"I think since you're doing all the work so far, you should tell him."

"Gee, thanks."

"Today was definitely a close call. It's a good thing that you used your telepathy to get his aunt up here and help him."

"Well, it was the only idea I could think of at the moment. Anyway, I'll keep lookout tonight Gabriel."

* * *

Two Days Later – Valentine's Day

If the events of two days ago were hell on earth for Keitaro, then Valentine's Day ended up being a complete 180 for him. Keitaro's mask of cheerfulness was back on and with good reasons. The past few months had been an emotional roller coaster for the ronin, and he was finally due for a day that he didn't suffer a near-death experience or an accident. Last year, all of the girls either bought or made chocolate for Keitaro, marking the first time in his life that he received any gifts on Valentine's Day. As he found out the previous year, it ended up being a big deal to one or two of the girls at the dorm. This year's candidate appeared to be Naru, who was nearly caught by the others making her surprise gift very early that morning (at about midnight or so) after scolding Keitaro for trying to make another dummy chocolate. As the day got underway, the ronin's barrage of good fortune began.

"Sempai, please accept this! It's for good luck for your exams!" (Shinobu, who on average made the biggest deal about give Keitaro chocolate)

"Hey Keitaro! It's time for the curry chocolate again! It's super hot this year!" (Su, whose chocolate experiment nearly causes Keitaro to breath fire)

"Urashima, I really don't care much for such trivial practices, but since you helped look after me and my training this past year, here." (Motoko)

"Hey Keitaro, this is from me." (Kitsune, with her nickel sized piece of chocolate)

"Just be grateful for this, dork." (Sarah)

As Naru decided at the last minute to hide her homemade chocolate, Mutsumi went ahead and gave Keitaro her confectionary masterpiece. "WOW! Did you make this Mutsumi! It tastes great!"

"Thank you Keitaro. I got a lot of practice by making dummy ones over the years."

'I don't believe it. That's basically the same story Keitaro gave us last year,' Naru thought.

As the day wore on a little bit, Keitaro was interrupted by a very loud commotion throughout the apartment. "Tama, get back here!" Naru screamed as she dove to tackle the turtle. As both of them crashed into the manager's room and hit the ground, a package flew off of Tama's back and landed into Keitaro's hands while he was studying. "What's this?" Naru nearly had a heart attack as he opened the package to reveal the Liddo-Kun shaped chocolate she had made.

"Is this for me Naru?"

"No, I was just practicing making chocolate. Give it back so I can get rid of it!" Naru shouted as she snatched it out of his hand.

"Wait! I'd rather have it than let it go to waste!" As he went to get it back, it set off a tug-of-war battle between the two that ended in Keitaro taking a giant bite out of Naru's homemade gift. Naru was deathly afraid of the impending response that it was bad. That response, however, never came.

"IT TASTES GREAT!"

"You're kidding me, right?" Naru was in shock as Keitaro offered her a taste. "But it was all powdery and stuff compare to Mutsumi's."

"This is really the best one I've tried today, Narusegawa." Naru started to blush at Keitaro's compliments.

It was at this point that Su and Sarah crashed the intimate moment and returned Hinata Sou to the usual everyday craziness. And Keitaro couldn't have dreamt of a better day. The gifts he received and the caring nature that the girls showed him was overwhelming. With his college entrance exams approaching and his confidence built up, he was on top of the world. Derrick and Gabriel even took the time to follow the day's antics and struggled to keep from smiling and laughing at the genuine happiness that radiated from everyone at Hinata Sou, especially Keitaro.

Unfortunately for Keitaro Urashima, this was the calm before the storm.

* * *

February 26, 2000 – 2nd Day of the Tokyo U. Entrance Exams

Keitaro takes his seat in the testing area. The first day of testing went extremely well for the group of Hinata ronins. However, the events prior to the test had caused more questions than answers about his past. Before the first day testing, he confronted Mutsumi about her being his promised girl, since she was also trying to fulfill a childhood promise to someone to enter Tokyo U. However, he learned that Mutsumi made a promise to a girl to remind her about an earlier promise to Keitaro. 'I was certain that Mutsumi was the girl of my past. Her promise was to Narusegawa to help her remember an earlier one. She denied it so adamantly, but could Naru really be one I've been searching for?' The two had talked about it last night after everything that happened at the testing center, and it had a profound impact. He was confident, ready for whatever happened that day.

After all of the English tests had been passed out, Keitaro started to look over the material. 'This is unbelievable. I, I understand this! The past 4 years of my life have finally paid off! I'm going to make it for sure!' Keitaro began to figure up how well he needed to do, which was quickly replaced by a flood of images: his acceptance into Tokyo U., the big celebration that would follow, the smiles, the tears, and finally finding happiness. With her. With Narusegawa. All of these thoughts brought an ear-to-ear smile to his face.

"Five minutes left!"

Keitaro immediately jerks his head up. 'Oh man, I must have dosed off.' He then looks at his answer paper and his smile is replaced by a look of absolute horror. His entire answer sheet is blank! 'Oh shit! I've nearly slept the entire session away and I haven't done a damn thing on this section!' In a desperate attempt, he starts putting pencil to paper and just writes without thinking. 'How could I do this now! After 4 years, after everything I've been through, I go and do something this stupid! I-it's hopeless.' As he enters into a panic trying to come up with answers, he hears a voice emerge deep within his confused thoughts. Naru's voice.

"It's okay. You haven't failed yet, Keitaro. Don't give up hope yet."

After the longest five minutes of the poor ronin's life, time is called. 'There's no way I could've passed. None of those answers could be right and, even if they were, nobody would be able to read my sorry excuse of handwriting.' Keitaro can barely lift his hand to turn in his answer sheet. As he exits the room, he quickly scribbles a note a throws it onto a nearby desk. All of the color is drained from the young man's face as he begins to take off in a dead sprint through the halls of the university, then across the courtyard, then away from the university. Away from everything that mattered the most to him. 'I was so sure it about it this time. I can't believe I let everyone down again. I failed again. Damn, I failed! There's no way I can face any of them!' He tried to fight back the tears as cryptic thoughts slowly began to enter his head. He desperately wished he could get rid of the pain at any cost.

* * *

Meanwhile

Derrick spent most of that day meditating in a wooded area outside of Tokyo. Unable to stay at the university to watch what was about to befall Keitaro, he asked Gabriel to keep lookout and notify him when he could get finally try to help the tortured soul. The young Saiyan, decked out in black clothing, a long leather jacket, and a black Old Western-style hat, sits under a tree muttering a silent prayer into the cross pendant he's holding near his lips. A prayer of serenity, asking for strength to accomplish his task.

Suddenly, as a light breeze blows through the woods, a voice begins to summon Derrick. "It's time. Arise, and take control of destiny."

'Alright, I have to get this done. Failure's not an option: his soul and mine are both are on the line here,' Derrick though to himself as he stood and immediate began his flight back to Tokyo.

* * *

"Hey Keitaro, how did it go?" "Yeah, we did great!" The joyful voices of Naru and Mutsumi are cut short when they enter Keitaro's testing room and notice he's not there. The two girls are caught off guard by this, since Keitaro said that He would meet them there after the exam.

"Where did he go?" Naru can only look around the room and ask the same question again and again.

Mutsumi, however notices the note sitting on a desk. "Ara, what's this?"

Mutsumi opens up the note. Both she and Naru can only stand there in horror as they read the note.

Please don't bother trying to find me. Goodbye.  
- Keitaro


	4. Fate's Intervention Begins

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Love Hina or many of the characters in this story. Only a couple of the characters in this story are mine.

"…" – Character talking

'…' – Character thinking

**Chapter Four: Fate's Intervention Begins**

* * *

Nightfall – Tokyo U.

The gentle rays of sunshine that had graced the city of Tokyo earlier that day had long since been replaced by dark clouds and a driving rain. Tokyo University now looked like a deserted ghost town after the events from earlier. Well, almost. In the courtyard outside of the main campus building, two ominous figures are seen conversing with each other. "The seeds of darkness have been planted my brother." "Indeed, that foolish mortal won't last after putting his soul through that." The two demons can't help but laugh at their handiwork on Keitaro. They took it upon themselves to magnify every dark feeling in his heart for the purpose of damning Keitaro's soul. "Master will be pleased. Come, let's go finish what we started." The demons start for their destination, but never get there as they are halted by the appearance of stranger in black attire.

"You'll go no further! Now give up and leave that soul alone or pay the price!" the stranger shouted at the two demons.

"Get a load of this guy, brother. What do think he's trying to dress up as?"

"I recognize these getups. He's one of those Dark Angel losers. Come; let's rough him up a bit."

The demons advance only a couple of steps before they see a glowing symbol form over the heart of the young stranger. "No way! That's the symbol of that cursed Inner Light technique. One of sorry losers is a demon killer." Both of them continue to stand in fear as the young warrior lets out a high pitch scream and unleashes some of the Super Saiyan powers that he had held back for months.

"Last chance, either both of you leave now or else I'll crush you worse than that ultimate demon that your master thought would overpower Earth." Both demons now feel overwhelmed by terror as they realize exactly what they're up against.

"We'll never let you undo our work!" one of the demons shouts. Derrick, with golden waves of energy and electricity surrounding his body, readies himself for the impending onslaught. Both demons charge furiously at the young Saiyan and each swing a fist with all their might. Only for Derrick to vanish at the last moment. Seconds later, he reappears, sending one demon flying with a vicious punch and dropping the other one to the ground with a bone crushing roundhouse kick. He then reaches down to grab the demon by the throat and hold him in the air. Suddenly, a trail of white ki energy travels from the glowing symbol on Derrick's chest and travels up his arm. "No! Please, have mercy on me demon slayer!"

Too late. "Inner Light Attack!" A giant ball of ki energy, whiter than any snowfall imaginable, engulfs the two combatants. The other demon, trying to regain his bearings after Derrick's attack, looks on in disbelief. After a few seconds, the energy sphere vanishes, revealing the Dark Angel as the lone combatant standing.

"Y-you destroyed my brother! Now you'll feel my wrath!" The second demon charges full speed at the young Super Saiyan. Derrick looks over just in time to see the demon's fist send him flying into a nearby tree. The enraged creature charges again with another attack, only to have it blocked at the last second.

"Well, I felt your wrath, spawn of Satan. Now feel mine!" Derrick unleashes a barrage of punches and kicks onto the unprepared demon. The demon doesn't fly very far, however, as Derrick grabs hold of one leg. Then, with one fluid movement, the young Saiyan spins around and throws the demon into the sky. As he travels through the sky with unbelievable velocity, the demon is able to look back at his opponent, only to see that the Super Saiyan is preparing to launch a final attack.

"Inner Light – Final Flash Combo!" Massive waves of blue and white ki energy travels from the young warrior's hands and engulfs the defenseless demon before completing its path through the Earth's atmosphere. Seeing that the last of his opponents is no more, the young Saiyan powers back down and releases a heavy sigh.

"Enjoy your little sparring session with those two?" Derrick looks over at the nearby tree he nearly knocked over to see Gabriel holding his black hat.

"Not really. It figures that a demon or two would get involved and corrupt his soul. Some of them did the same bullshit with me, remember?" Gabriel nodded in response to this remark. "Unfortunately, those demons have planted a seed of darkness to weaken the Urashima boy's soul even more. The bad part is you can't remove that seed until it is strong enough to break him. This will definitely complicate matters."

"It's going to take more than that to stop me from helping Keitaro. Where is he now?"

"He's at a park a few miles away from here. He's done nothing but wander around the city after he left here. By the way, here's this ticket that you asked for to use in your plan."

"Thanks." Derrick snatches the ticket and his hat from the archangel's hands and takes off the find Keitaro.

* * *

1 Hour Later

Keitaro has spent the last hour or so just sitting on a bench in the park, oblivious to everything. He hadn't noticed the cold wind or the pouring rain that had been going on for some time now. All he could think about was the cold and fearful sensations that gripped his heart, the dark seeds taking root even further. 'I can't go back. I let down Naru and Mutsumi. The others probably wouldn't give a damn.' He then took a break from his thoughts and noticed for the first time his dreary surroundings. 'How convenient. What do I do now? Mom and Dad won't let me go back home. The girls at Hinata won't bear with me too much longer. Everyone I know thinks I'm a disappointment. I just wish I was dead.'

His train of thought was again broken by something else this time: The sound of footsteps on the sidewalk. Keitaro looks up to notice the dark clad figure approaching. As the figure draws closer, he just looks in awe at the person approaching. The person looked to be about six feet tall, yet didn't appear to be much older than 15. The boy's hair (or the bit that wasn't soaked by the storm) appeared to be red when illuminated by the lights along the sidewalk. Keitaro was somewhat frightened by the black clothes, the black hat, and leather trench coat the youngster wore, but at the same time was relief to see the silver and ruby cross hanging around his neck. Keitaro was so caught up in the appearance of this person that he almost didn't notice him stopping in front of him. "You know, this isn't really the best place to be doing some soul searching right now?"

Keitaro was caught off guard by the question. "How did you know…?"

A faint grin appears across the face of the Dark Angel. "Your demeanor clearly shows that something's on you mind, my friend. Mind if I take a seat?"

"Go ahead," Keitaro mumbles as the dark stranger takes a seat on the bench next to him. "Anyway, my name's Keitaro. What's yours?"

"The name's Derrick," the young Saiyan said with a little hesitation. "That's an American name, isn't it?" Keitaro asked, with Derrick giving a nod of agreement. "How old are you, Derrick?"

"Fourteen. And you, Keitaro?"

"I'm 21. I've got one more question. What's a 14 year old American doing wandering around Tokyo?"

Derrick's response basically stunned the hapless ronin. "What's a 21 year old Japanese man doing sulking on a park bench in a thunderstorm?"

"Thinking," Keitaro snapped.

"Thinking about what?" Derrick was obviously trying to pry answers out.

Keitaro snapped his head to the side to look at the young stranger. He had gone almost two years thinking that there was nobody he could share his problems with. Now, this American teenager comes out of nowhere and wants to hear his troubles. "Why do you care about what's wrong with me?"

Derrick then turns his head slightly to glance over at Keitaro. "I believe that a person always needs a friendly ear who will listen to his or her problems. Judging from the way you're acting, that's something that you don't have right now. So, just tell me about anything that's troubling your mind and soul." At this request, Keitaro begins to pour out his soul to the young stranger: his past, the exam from earlier, and the internal conflicts plaguing him. After several minutes, both of them get up off the park bench and begin to head their separate ways.

"Hey Derrick. Thanks for listening."

"No problem." However, both of them only take a couple of steps when a girl's voice suddenly pierces the relative calm.

"KEITARO!"

"Oh no, it the girls! I can't face any of them. Not yet, anyway." As Keitaro begins to panic, Derrick immediately reaches into his pants pocket and pulls out a ticket.

"Here Keitaro, take this. It's a ticket for a ferry that's leaving from Hiromi Harbor tonight. I know you still need some time to think things through, so maybe this trip will help you out."

"Thanks Derrick. I owe you one!" Keitaro exclaims, grabbing the ticket and stuffing it in his book bag before turning and running off into the night.

As Keitaro vanishes from sight, the archangel Gabriel appears right beside Derrick. "Well, everything seems to have started off on the right foot." Derrick half mumbles. "Gabriel, are you sure he's going to end up where I want him to?"

"Yes, we've already got that part worked out. But how are you going to follow him around on that island without him recognizing you."

Derrick looks over at Gabriel with a sheepish look on his face. "I've been meaning to talk to you about that. You think that you could go to my home and get a few things for me since I'm not allowed there?"

"Well, I suppose there's no harm in …" Gabriel suddenly stops in mid-sentence and looks behind him as he hears some commotion from another part of the park. "I think that Keitaro's tenants are searching for him, so I'll leave you to deal with that hornet's nest." Gabriel suddenly vanishes from site, leaving Derrick standing by himself.

'Should've guessed that he would take off when the going gets tough.' The young Saiyan's thoughts are interrupted by the group of girls running up behind him.

"Hey you!"

* * *

After Naru and Mutsumi told everyone that Keitaro had ran away, the girls split up and searched everywhere they thought that he would be. After several hours and no luck, the girls were forced to return to Hinata Sou as the rain and thunderstorms began. Upon returning to the dorms, they felt very hopeless. "Where could he be at? That baka, he shouldn't be allowed to go anywhere by himself!" Naru hoped her harsh words would hide her concern from everyone else.

"Auuu, I hope that Sempai is alright!"

Motoko walked over and placed a hand on Shinobu's shoulders to comfort the young girl. "Don't worry Shinobu, we'll find Urashima. Then I'll make that sorry excuse for a male pay for doing this."

"Anybody have some ideas?" Kitsune was unusually sober and worried sick about Keitaro's well-being.

"Hey Su, didn't create a tracking device to find that idiot?" Su was suddenly jolted to life by Sarah's question and quickly ran up the stairs, only to return a minute later with a device that looked like a Gameboy with a mini satellite dish.

"Everyone, say hello to the Keitaro-Tracker 5000!" Everyone swarmed around Su in less than a second.

"Ara, how are we going to find Kei-kun with a video game?" Mutsumi asked.

"It's not a video game, turtle lady. This baby has a range of 100 miles and can create a map of the area that our target is in." As the device powers up and begins creating a map, Naru suddenly notices the layout of the area on the screen. "I know where that is! It's a park not too far from Tokyo University! Let's go!"

After the girls grab their rain gear and leave Hinata, they reach the park in mere minutes. As they pause to catch their breath, Naru just couldn't hold it in anymore. "KEITARO!" After a moment, Su looks back at her tracking device. "Uh-oh. I think you scared him because he just took off running and he's moving fast!" As the girls enter the park, they continue to follow Su's directions in a desperate bid to catch the runaway ronin. After traveling a good distance into the park, they notice two thinks: somethingwas distorting the signal of the tracking device (after they heard some very figurative language from the resident inventor and seeing her smack the device several times) and the dark looking stranger right in front of them. The girls come to a screeching halt on the sidewalk as Naru decides to be the bold one.

"Hey you!"

The person looks over his shoulder in response to her question. "May I help you girls?"

"Yeah, where was the guy who was here earlier heading to?" Shinobu could barely hold back her tears as the question left her mouth.

"Sorry, there hasn't been anyone here in the last hour except for me," Derrick said as he turned around to face the group of girls.

"You're lying. We've used a tracking device to follow him here. We know he took off somewhere and you know where to. Now tell us, you vile male!" Anger dripped off of every word as Motoko walked up to the stranger and stood face to face with him, sword in hand. Derrick looked at Motoko, then glanced at the rest of the girls before returning his attention to the swordswoman.

"I can't tell you that."

"You can and you will, you sorry bastard!" Motoko shrieked as she slapped him in the face.

Bad idea. Derrick looked at the ground as he slowly brought his head back around in Motoko's direction. He then begins to lift his head. As the bill of the Dark Angel's hat slowly moves upward, Motoko's look of anger slowly turns to one of fear as she sees the facial expression hidden by the hat and a few strands of long red hair. His face is contorted into an expression of pure rage and only the whites of his eyes were visible, as his pupils are rolled into the back of his head. Motoko takes several steps back, away from the frightful sight before her.

Then the paranormal happenings began.

Fog begins to form around Derrick's feet and spread outward. Then the winds began to howl furiously and the rain came down at an even faster rate. Su let out a small scream as a sudden electrical surge caused her tracking device to blow up. Everyone looks on in fear as Derrick slow begins to raise his arms up slowly along his side. He then throws them upward, opening his hands above his head. As soon as his hands open, seven lightning bolts strike in a circle around the group of people. 'Hopefully, this little demonstration of power will stop them,' he thought to himself as he dropped his arms and returned his facial expression to normal. He was soon proven otherwise as Motoko drew her sword and took a battle stance. "Since you want a fight, let's lay down some ground rules. If you win, I'll tell you where Keitaro is. But if I win, all of you go home and just let fate take its course. Agreed?"

"Fine. Prepare to lose." the Aoyama swordswoman said as she tightened the grip on her weapon.

"Right now!" Naru interrupted the two warriors as she charged forward and drew her fist back to execute one of her patented Naru Punches.Everyone stood in amazement as Naru's fist connected with Derrick's face. He didn't move back one inch and his head remained in the same position as before. There was a loud snapping sound; however, it was soon revealed what snapped when Naru let out a scream and grasped herinjured right hand. "He broke my damn hand!"

"How dare you hurt Naru-Sempai!" Motoko charged forward and took a horizontal wipe at the dark warrior. Derrick only grinned as he blocked it with his hand and took Motoko down with a leg sweep. The young swordswoman, shot back up and proceeded to attack with a barrage of sword strikes, all of them failing to hit their target. They young Saiyan then delivered a quick elbow to Motoko's midsection and delivered another leg sweep. He then looked up to notice the injured Naru charge at him again. Unwilling to hurt her anymore, Derrick immediately removed his leather trench coat and, with a quick twisting motion, wrapped it around her head as he avoided Naru Punch. This worked in that it stopped Naru in her tracks; however, this gave Motoko enough time to charge up an attack.

"Rock Splitting Sword!" Derrick is caught off guard by this attack and is only able to drop his shoulder and brace for the impact. The ki blast from Motoko's blade sends him rocketing into the trunk of a tree about 50 feet away. The swordswoman grins in satisfaction, only to see her opponent stand back up without a scratch. The only damage done was that the attack destroyed a part of his shirt, revealing some markings on his upper arm and chest. Motoko is overwhelmed by a flood of thoughts as she recognizes the markings. 'I've seen those designs on drawings back at the dojo. But that means…no, he can't be a heavenly spirit! It's impossible!' Motoko tries to clear her head as she charges forward to deliver a death strike to her mysterious opponent. That blow never connects, however, as Derrick sidesteps the attack and throws his right arm over hers. He then maneuvers his hand and foreman underneath her arm and pulls back toward his body, pinning Motoko's right arm between his arm and side and causing her to drop her sword. He then takes his left arm and applies a half nelson on the other side of his opponent. The girls, at this point, stand in disbelief as Motoko is unable to break away from Derrick's superhuman grip.

'Looks like I'm going to win. I've got to hand it to you though, Motoko. The stories I've heard about the Aoyama clan are true because you lasted a lot longer than any normal human would have.' Derrick's thought echoed through Motoko's head with absolute clarity.

'How are you…'

'I'm using telepathy to communicate with you through thoughts. Now, to answer the questions you have. Yes, I know all about you, Keitaro, and the rest of your friends over there. Second, I do know where he is headed, but its best that none of you bother him at this time. Third, I know all of this because I'm a spirit from heaven, a Dark Angel, appointed to watch over Keitaro. I've spent the last couple of months watching over him and trying to eradicate a dark presence in his soul."

'Dark Angel? I've heard legends about those back at the dojo – souls who had to do good deeds to cleanse their souls before entering Heaven. Wait a minute! Keitaro containing a dark presence? What do you mean?'

'For the past several months, Keitaro has been fighting an internal battle fueled by his good and dark thoughts. It is a test designed by God himself to strengthen his soul. Almost every human has to deal with the test, but in Keitaro's case, demons have corrupted his soul's will to persist and succeed. I've been charged to help him eradicate the seeds of darkness from his heart so that his life will return to its destined path. Now, I won't let anything happen to him because the stakes are too great for either of us. Secondly, I want you to swear that you won't tell the others yet. They will find out about this in there own way. After that, you can tell them what I told you.'

'Okay. I swear I won't tell the others until it's time.'

'Good. Unfortunately, I need to make my victory look legit, so I'm going to stun you and knock you out for a while. I truly apologize for this.'

After letting Motoko know this, Derrick releases her and delivers a swift knife edge chop to the back of her head. He then catches the unconscious girl and sits her up against a tree while the rest of the girls run over in concern. As Naru approaches, Derrick grabs her by the arm and stops her. Naru has a fearful look on her face as he clasps his hands around her broken hand. She tries to pull away from his grasp as a white aura of energy radiates from his palms. She stops struggling as the pain suddenly subsides in her hand and her bones heal to their normal state. Naru can only muster a dumbfounded look as Derrick releases his grasp and grabs his coat out of her other hand. He then pulls the coat back over his body and begins to walk away from her and the others. Naru watches for a few seconds as the dark clad stranger disappears into the night before she turns around and turns her attention to the fallen Motoko.

* * *

Seven Days Later – Pararakelse Island

In the room of a mission church on Pararakelse Island, Derrick was busy cutting some of his hair off. After he looks in the mirror with a look of satisfaction on his face, Derrick turns away to notice that Gabriel has appeared in the room, holding a duffle bag and a couple of items covered by a sheet. "I must say Derrick, that is an interesting style you've got going." The Dark Angel couldn't disagree with his supervisor on that one. His hair had been shortened to where it hung about shoulder length and had tied it up in the back, leaving the rest to hang down in the front. All of this was done in hope that Keitaro wouldn't recognize him when they meet again. "Do you really think that will be enough to hide your identity?"

"No, but this will." Derrick stated as he powered up to Super Saiyan and stopped the flow of golden aura leaving his body, leaving the blonde hair as his only sign of transformation.

"Can your power hold out long enough for you to keep the blonde hair color going?"

"Of course it will since I'm in a resting state of the transformation. Did you get the things that I asked for Gabriel?"

Gabriel responded by tossing the young Saiyan the bag full of clothes. "I also brought you a few personal items as well." Gabriel said as he removed the sheet from the bundle he had earlier to reveal a large sword in its sheath and a guitar case. Derrick's eyes widened as he looked at these two items.

"How did you get these? They were taken to Capsule Corp. after my fight by Master Vegeta after my fi…" Derrick stops himself as thoughts about that day surface in his head.

"I went over there and met with Vegeta himself. I told him about your current plight and he gave me these items. He figured that the sword would come in handy if you had to face any more demons and that you might like to write a few songs during your down time." Derrick couldn't help but smile from ear to ear during this whole time. Both of the items were gifts from Vegeta and his family. The sword, which Vegeta had custom made with a gold and gem-encrusted handle and a blade sharp enough to cut through a battleship, was given to him sometime before his fateful battle with the ultimate demon. The guitar, a Christmas present from Vegeta's son Trunks, helped provide for some musical forms of coping with his grandfather's death and the betrayal from his friends. Derrick's wandering thoughts were interrupted when he remembered the current task at hand.

"Gabriel, shouldn't Keitaro be arriving on this island in the near future?"

"Yes. Why?"

"I need to find that that archeologist guy and put in for some part-time work so I can keep track of our friend when he gets here." Derrick stated as he slung the strap of the sword sheath over his shoulder and exited the room.

* * *

Eleven Days after the Tokyo U. Exam – Pararakelse Island

As the last radiant waves of light vanished into the sunset, Keitaro sat on the coast of a strange island while his mind was drowning in a sea of thoughts.

After a week aboard the ferry, he found out that the ship was heading to warmer climates instead of the bitter cold frontier that he desired to disappear in. As he began to freak out, thoughts about his getaway with Mutsumi and Naru a year ago entered his head. Keitaro began to lose it and in an act of desperation to erase his thoughts, threw his exam admission ticket and a page out of his sticker photo album (with his pictures of Naru) into the ocean. At the last second, he decided not to part with them and followed them into the water.

After some time, and some weird visions that involved Naru and Mutsumi getting married, he awoke on this island. After four days of trying to stay alive, he noticed a gleaming object on the shore. He rushed to it to find that his photo album and admission ticket had floated ashore. As hard as he tried, he couldn't bring himself to throw them away again and instead set hung them up near his campfire to dry. As Keitaro returned to the fire to take them down, he noticed some writing on the back of the admission ticket. He then began to look at it and noticed the good luck messages that everyone back at Hinata wrote onto his exam ticket. The last one that he read was the message from Naru, which caused the young man to fall to all fours as he fought back the tears.

"It's no use! I can't forget any of them! Narusegawa … I really do … love you." Keitaro was brought out of his daze as a white van barreled out of the jungle and nearly crashed into him. The door swung open as the driver stumbled out of the wreckage.

"Wow, it's really useless to drive in the jungle at night." The driver looked away from his van to notice the shocked young man staring at him.

"S-SETA – SAN!" Keitaro blurted out as he ran and hugged onto his friend and part-time boss. "Well, if is isn't Keitaro. What in the world are you doing here?"

Back at the campsite, Keitaro gorged on the food that Seta had prepared and amazed the young Tokyo U. professor/archeologist with his tale of survival. "Wow, surviving for 4 days by yourself here is unbelievable. But what about Tokyo U.? Isn't it the exam season?" Seta's question had Keitaro staring at the ground and nervously searching for answers. Seta picked up on this and walked over to the poor ronin, holding a shovel in hand. "Here you go, Urashima?" he said as he handed the shovel to Keitaro.

"Eh?"

"Since you won't be returning to Hinata Sou for a while, why don't you stay here and be my assistant? My whole reason for being on this island is to do some research, but due to funding problems, I don't have enough manpower. It'd be nice to have someone with some experience helping out, so how about it?"

"Sure!" was the only thing Keitaro could say.

"Since that's you're final decision, why don't you contact Hinata Sou!" Seta exclaimed.

"Uh, I-I don't think I can just yet." Keitaro's excuse was cut off by a voice from the jungle.

"Hey Seta! I thought that we warned you about going on road trips by yourself?" Both Keitaro and Seta looked to see a teenage boy run out of the jungle. The young boy looked to be fairly built for his age and sported a baggy pair of faded blue jeans and a tight fitting white t-shirt. The boy had a rather large sword on his back and had blonde hair with bangs over his forehead and the rest (which had considerable length) pulled back into a ponytail. There was something that stuck out about the boy in Keitaro's mind, something that seemed quite familiar: a silver chain around his neck that had a silver and ruby cross pendant on it.

"Funny. Oh by the way, this is Keitaro, a part-time employee of mine from Japan who will be helping us for a while. Keitaro, this is Derrick. He's a teenager working at the local mission church. He's been volunteering to help me the last few days." the two people shook hands as Seta finished his introduction.

'Funny, it almost seems as if I've met this kid before,' Keitaro thought to himself.


	5. Daily In My Sin

**Disclaimer: I don't own Love Hina, Dragonball Z, or many of the characters in this story. Only a couple of the characters in this story are mine.**

"…" – Character talking

'…' – Character thinking

_Italics_ - singing

**Chapter Five: Daily In My Sin …**

**

* * *

**

Later That Night

Seta and Derrick took Keitaro to the excavation site so that he could set up camp. With some good fortune, they were able to find some clothes for the new assistant, since Keitaro left Japan without any other personal items. While Seta got a tent set up, Keitaro went with Derrick into the nearby town and the church that Derrick was staying in to see if he had some items for the ronin to borrow. As they entered into the room, Keitaro begins to notice some of the items in the room. The guitar case in the corner caught his attention first.

"You play a lot?"

"Whenever I get enough free time, yes. I actually took up songwriting after my grandpa died. It helped give me some emotional relief." Derrick said half-heartedly. 'Not enough though. That was when the demons began to weaken my soul and get me in this predicament.'

"Think you could play me a song or two."

"Not right now. The rest of the people working at this church are asleep and get pretty irritable when their sleep is disturbed. If we have enough time after work tomorrow, I'll bring my guitar over to the campsite and play a tune." Derrick said as he removed the sword and prepared to set it down on the floor. His progress, however, was halted when Keitaro grabbed the handle of the sword and removed it from its sheath.

"Were did you get this thing from?" Keitaro asked while he began to wield the sword and execute a few slashes. Derrick was completely stunned by the perfection of Keitaro's swings, albeit with some effort due to the sword's weight.

"It was a gift from my master. I've studied martial arts for a few years now and it was a gift from him after the completion of my training. You seem to have an untapped fighting ability judging by your technique."

"Yeah. My family practices a unique form of martial arts. I tried to master it at one time, but quit at an early age. Plus, I happened to memorize some sword fighting techniques after being on the receiving end of so many of them."

"Let me guess. Motoko." Derrick's statement caused Keitaro to go into a state of shock.

"H-How did you …?"

"When you were getting cleaned up at the campsite, Seta gave me a little background info on you. This Motoko girl happened to be a master swordfighter, if I'm not mistaken." Derrick spoke, while in is head, he thought 'It didn't hurt that I spied on every aspect of this guy's life for about 2 months either.' "It seems like that crowd at Hinata Sou is something else."

"No kidding. It's really something I don't want to talk about right now. I was thrown head first into a piranha pond by my grandma when she made me manager of that place. I would go to the ends of the Earth for those girls and they hate me for the slightest mishap on my part." Keitaro looked at the ground in dejection. "Well, it's getting late. I need to get back to the campsite. See you in the morning." Keitaro's exit from the room is cut off by the sound of Derrick's voice.

"Hey Keitaro. I really think you're wrong about those girls. Hate is a very strong emotion for one human to have against another. It destroys life and yet you're still here. I believe that deep inside, those girls have a spot in their hearts that care for you deeply. It just takes some time for it to show."

A faint smile cracks Keitaro's lips as those words leave the Dark Angel's lips. "Maybe, maybe not. Even at this moment, I can't help but think about how they're doing right now." Keitaro responds as he exits the room.

Alone now, Derrick powers down to conserve some of his Super Saiyan energy so he could continue to keep the disguise up later on. As he lies down on the bed, he reaches under it to grab is black Western hat. After he mumbles a prayer, Derrick places the hat over his eyes and begins to drift to sleep.

* * *

The Previous Day – Hinata Sou

The last ten days at Hinata Sou have felt like a funeral for the girls. Ever since the day of the Tokyo U. entrance exam and Keitaro's disappearance, the girls' efforts to find him have turned up no results. Keitaro hasn't contacted anyone, including Haruka, which depressed the girls even more. Shinobu spent much of her time crying the privacy of her room. Motoko, who had only the faintest idea of the manager's whereabouts, couldn't concentrate on any of her training. Su and Sarah were visibly devoid of their usual energy. Kitsune seemed to take more solace in her bottles of whiskey and sake. Mutsumi tried to maintain her same dizzy, clumsy demeanor, but the sorrow in her heart was beginning to show through. Naru just sat on her futon clutching her Liddo-Kun doll while staring at the workbooks that she and Keitaro had spent so many nights working on. 'Why did he leave like this? Everyday, I expect that board over the hole to shift and see Keitaro pop through.' Naru finally decided to stop sulking and see if anything in his room would provide any answers.

As Naru dropped through the hole into Keitaro's room, she made a beeline to his desk and, more importantly, to his diary hidden in the top drawer. As she sat down at the desk and begin to thumb through the pages, she began to notice an odd pattern. There were some dark, cryptic entries scattered in the diary. As the diary progressed, more of these entries began to occur at greater frequency. Some of the pages were smeared with a dark red substance. As Naru's thoughts raced at the discovery of these dark reflections of Keitaro's feelings, something else in the desk drawer caught her attention: a knife with the same red substance dried on the blade. As Naru held both objects in her hands and wandered around the room in a daze, she began to think about that one night two months ago when she spotted an open cut on Keitaro's wrist. Everything suddenly added up in Naru's head and she was unable to hold her emotions in anymore.

"DEAR GOD, NO!" Naru's scream pierced every room in Hinata Sou. The rest of the girls rushed to Keitaro's room and opened the door to discover Naru crying uncontrollably, holding two objects in her hands.

"Naru, what's wrong with you girl?" Kitsune asked while wrapping her arms around her best friend in an attempt to comfort Naru.

"Naru, what's that you're holding?" Mutsumi asked with a concerned look on her face.

Knowing that she couldn't hide them now, Naru held out the blood stained items for the rest of the girls to see. As the rest of the girls drew up the same conclusions that Naru did, they immediately began to deny that Keitaro wasn't capable of doing this. "He just couldn't do this! He would never inflict himself like!"

"He would and, obviously, he did." This snapped the girls out of their panic long enough for them to notice Haruka standing in the doorway of the room.

"Why would Sempai do this to himself!" Shinobu asked, crying enough tears to put Noah's Flood to shame.

Haruka took a long drag from her cigarette before she began her spill. "He did it as a form of relief. He has spent most of his life trying to fulfill a promise that has caused him much grief from others, including his own family. Then, after he moved here, most of your actions gave the feeling that you all hated him. He knew that wasn't true, but every once in a while, his mind would convince him otherwise. Those cuts and dark entries in his diary ended up being his only solace from the pain." All of the girls stared at the floor in sorrow for a few seconds before Naru broke the silence.

"Baka, why couldn't he just be honest with us! Whenever I get my hands on him …"

"Shut up, Naru! This situation is more serious than you or anyone else in here can comprehend!"

Everyone in the room turned and gave a surprised look at Motoko. It was time she shared with them what she knew.

"Does everyone remember that night when Urashima ran away and we encountered that person in the park?" Everyone, minus Haruka, nodded in agreement. "Well, that person is a heavenly spirit assigned to watch over Keitaro. He shared with me everything that he knew about this situation. Keitaro is in a supernatural fight for his survival. Demons have corrupted a spiritual test designed to strengthen Keitaro's soul, causing the possibility for a dark fate to befall Urashima. This spirit promised me that he would help return Urashima to his original destiny in life." All of the girls were dumbfounded by Motoko's revelation.

"Wait a minute! How could that spirit be concerned about Keitaro at all! He kept us from trying to find him, scared the shit out of us with that paranormal show, and then beat you up!" Kitsune blurted out in a drunken slur.

"He did it to protect Urashima. That spirit believed that Urashima needed some time to sort things out and feared that our presence would be detrimental. Besides, he won't let anything happen to Keitaro."

"Why! What makes you believe that!" Mutsumi asked in a tearful, shaky voice.

"That spirit is a Dark Angel, a spirit who must cleanse his or her soul by helping a person on Earth who is suffering through a similar plight. This spirit's afterlife depends on Keitaro overcoming the darkness in his soul, so he will do his absolute best to help Urashima." Motoko said a calm voice.

"I sure hope that Keitaro will be alright." Su and Sara stated in a hopeful, yet sad, tone.

"So do I, you two. You all know that when he returns, we must make amends." Everyone nodded in response to Motoko's statement.

'Keitaro, please be alright,' Naru's mind pleaded.

During this entire time, Gabriel had been keeping watch at Hinata Sou for Derrick. The archangel had taken upon himself to scan the deepest, most private thoughts and memories of the girls to find out their true feelings toward Keitaro. 'These should come in handy in case Derrick needs to use them.' he thought while continuing to collect images.

* * *

Keitaro's First Day on the Job

Keitaro had to wake up bright and early as his first day at the excavation site. After Seta prepared some breakfast for the group, the two were later joined by Derrick, who had returned to his disguise state. Seta laid out the instructions for the day: Keitaro was to dig an experimental cave to start out with and Derrick was going to help him out, since he was still new to the job himself.

"Any questions you two?" Both of the new assistants didn't have any, so Seta gave them some digging tools and they got to work.

After digging for some time, both Keitaro and Derrick decided to share their life stories. Derrick began with a planned out story that centered around some problems back home that caused him to leave for a while. He claimed that he met a group of missionaries who were getting ready to head to Pararakerusu and decided to join them. Once he arrived, he found out that the missionaries really didn't have any work for him to do. That's when he came across the archeology dig and volunteered to help Seta.

"Well now it's your turn Keitaro. What's a young urbanite like you doing in a rugged little setting like this?"

"Well, if you must pry Derrick."

"Oh, I must, I must."

Now it was Keitaro's turn to retell his life's story to the Dark Angel. He told him about his plight to enter Toudai that was caused by his childhood promise, his life (and numerous near-death experiences) at Hinata Sou, and the events that led to him being at Pararakelse. He even told Derrick about his past involvements with Seta. After Keitaro shared this little bit of dirt with him, Derrick couldn't resist the urge of some good-natured ribbing.

"I see what you're plan is now Keitaro. You're going to attack Seta and bury him in this hole for trying to steal your chick."

"Well, the thought has crossed my mind once or twice … Wait a minute! Narusegawa and I aren't involved like that at all! Sure, she's really cute and all that but she wants to kill me half the time over some little mishap! Were only friends and that's it!" Keitaro's adamant denials only fueled Derrick's remarks some more.

"Even if you two are just friends, Keitaro, that doesn't rule out any extracurricular activities with her. Same thing goes with that Mutsumi girl that you told me about. I can't even begin to imagine what happens when you're alone with both of them, you little devil." Keitaro dropped his shovel and slaps his hands over his nose in response to Derrick's statements.

"I'm only friends with them! The only that happens when I'm alone with those two is studying!"

"Studying? Oh, so that's what they call it these days." Derrick was able to stop laughing long enough to see blood trickling out between Keitaro's fingers as he desperately tried to stop the nosebleed brought on by his comments. "Alright Keitaro, I'm messing with ya. Now quit bleeding and clean that mess up." he blurted out as he tossed Keitaro a canteen of water and a towel.

As Keitaro finished cleaning up, he couldn't help but smile about what had just transpired. "With those comments, you seemed to be a clone of Kitsune. The only thing separating you two is a set of boobs and a constant state of drunkenness."

"See, that goes to prove what I was telling you last night. She's just having some good natured fun with you."

"Yeah, but there's a difference between good humor and a person's comments causing someone to get launched into orbit by a fist or a sword attack."

"Got a point there, Keitaro. But seriously, I don't believe for one second that life with those girls is all bad."

"Yeah, you're actually right on that one. With Naru and Mutsumi around helping me study and trying to get into Toudai, I felt like my goals weren't a lost cause despite what happened recently. Su looks up to me like a big brother since she's so far away from her family. Kitsune and Motoko have odd ways of showing their appreciation. Shinobu is the only one I know for sure that has a soft spot for me and really wants me to be happy, even though that soft spot has caused more trouble for me than I care to remember. As for Seta's daughter, the jury's still out on that one." Keitaro felt a good feeling come over him as he actually remembered some of the good times at Hinata Sou. Both of the young workers started back to digging again when they were interrupted by Seta's voice.

"Hey you two, are digging for artifacts or trying to dig to the center of the Earth?" Seta's question caused the two people to look around and noticed their predicament. They had been so caught up in digging and talking that they failed to realize that they dug the cave too big and had no way out.

"Uh, little help Seta?" Keitaro's question was answered with a rope for him and Derrick to climb out of the hole with.

After the two had gotten out of the cave, Seta took them into town for a lunch break before continuing with the rest of the day's work. As the sun set and the workers called it a day, Seta decided to show Keitaro how to cook some meals at the campfire. After everyone ate their supper, Derrick went to Keitaro's tent to retrieve his guitar and play some songs in private. Keitaro and Seta, who were catching up on things, turned their around to see Derrick at the edge of the camp as he found the appropriate notes to play and began to sing.

_Alone again, again alone _

_Patiently waiting by the phone _

_Hoping that you will call me home _

_The pain inside, my love denied _

_Hopes and dreams swallowed by pride _

_Everything I need, it lies in you _

_'Cause I'm broken _

_I know I need you now _

_'Cause deep inside I'm broken _

_You see the way I live _

_I know I know your heart is broken _

_When I turn away _

_I need to be broken _

_Take the pain away_

"Wow, he's really good. Wouldn't you agree Keitaro?" Seta's question causes Derrick, who thought he was alone, to quit singing and look back in astonishment.

"Yeah, that was pretty good. Did you write that yourself Derrick?" The Dark Angel bowed his head in response.

"No. It was one that I heard back in the States that I really liked. The name of it is 'Broken '."

"You still did a good job with it anyway Derrick." Keitaro chimed in.

"Thanks."

"Well, you two better get to sleep. We've got a big day ahead of us tomorrow."

As Seta left for his tent, Keitaro had to ask some questions that had been bothering him for a while. "Hey Derrick, where did you get that cross necklace at?"

"It was a gift from my grandpa. Why do you ask?"

"Well, before I left Japan and wound up here, I met a person who wanted me to share my problems with him. He had a chain with the exact same type of cross pendant that you have on yours. And here's what else was weird about it: the guy didn't seem to be much older than you and he had the same name as you do. Albeit, he was a dark looking person, but thinking back on it, there's something about you and this guy that seems so familiar."

Mentally, Keitaro's statement caused Derrick to freeze in terror. 'Oh no, my cover's about to go up in smoke!' "Probably some strange coincidence." the Dark Angel responded without missing a beat.

"Yeah. That guy wanted me to stay away from the Hinata girls for a while and you, in a round-about way, have been telling me to contact them. You and Seta both."

"Well, maybe you should Keitaro. You think that they aren't worried about you, but like it or not, you've been a part of their lives for the past two years. More than likely, they probably are worried sick about you. At least contact them and let them know that you're okay."

"Alright, alright, I give up! Is there a fax machine in town?"

"There's a store in the town that has one. Whenever we go to town tomorrow, you should see if the owner will let you use it. Anyway, I need to get back to the church before they lock me out. Good night."

As Derrick left the campsite and made good progress back to the church, Gabriel appeared out of nowhere. "The Urashima kid seems to be doing a lot better since he got here."

"Yeah, he is. Hopefully he's finally got his head clear. That dark seed in his heart has been suppressed a great deal."

"It certainly has. However, I'm beginning to wonder about this idea about him contacting those girls. If any of them show up and return to their old ways toward him, it could cause that seed to strengthen greatly. I sure hope you know what you're doing."

"You and me both."

* * *

Realizations - That night at Hinata Sou

"How is she doctor?" Naru questioned as the doctor quietly exited the room.

"She's doing fine. She needed a couple of stitches to close the gash and some medicine for that headache, but she should be fine in the morning." the doctor said to the group of girls as she prepared to leave the building. As soon as she left, Naru turned around and grabbed Kitsune by the collar of her shirt.

"Baka, how could you just leave your stupid sake bottles lying around on the floor! It's amazing that Shinobu didn't get her headcracked wideopen on a countertop or the table!"

"Hey, don't blame me! She's slipped on stuff like this many times before and nothing like this has happened!" Kitsune's eyes suddenly snapped open as a new thought entered her mind. "Oh no." was the only thing the young woman could utter in response.

"Kitsune, what's wrong?" Naru asked in a worried tone.

"Shinobu never hurt herself when this happened because Keitaro was always there to catch her." Kitsune's statement hit the rest of the girls like a two ton wrecking ball.

"She's right." Motoko obviously took this the worst. "Urashima was always there to help her. Yet we always mistook it as a perverted act. God we are horrible people." The young swordswoman turned and ran up the stairs to her room, hoping to hide her feelings of anguish from the rest of the girls.

"Wow, she's taking this fairly hard." Sara said as the rest of the group looked back at the ground.

"Well, wouldn't you if you found out you hurt someone over little misunderstandings?" Kitsune snapped back. "Besides, I really think she misses her little practice dummy. By the way, can I borrow a few hundred yen?"

"What! Why are you asking for money at a time like this?" Naru snapped.

"I really need a drink. Unfortunately, Keitaro hasn't been around for me to bum money off of." Kitsune said in a whining manner.

"Oh, here. Maybe if your lucky enough, you can leave a bottle for someone else to trip on." Naru said as she grabbed a couple of bills out of her purse and gave to her friend.'Iwonder how Keitarohas been able to put up with her antics.' she thought as Kitsune exited the building. Naru then noticed that Su and Sarah were unusually quite. "Hey, why don't you two go build something."

"But everytime we try to test it out on you, you get upset. And so does everyone else." Su replied, trying to hold back tears.

"Well, no offense, but your inventions can be a little on the dangerous side."

"But Keitaro never complained about them being dangerous!" Su cried out as she turned around and ran to her room, with Sarah in pursuit.

'She's right, Keitaro never complained about anything. He was always attacked, overworked, blackmailed, and experimented on, yet he never complained about it.' A half hearted grin crossed the Toudai hopeful's face as she headed to her room, now realizing that they had truly been sent a one-of-a-kind manager.

'I really didn't think that Keitaro leaving would be so hard on everyone. And after everything that happened earlier ... Motoko's right, we really are horrible people.' Naru thought as she opened the door to her room. She looked over to her bed to notice that Mutsumi was still sleeping in it, trying to recover from a fainting spell she suffered after the events from that day. Naru then walked over to her Liddo-kun doll and the hole that connected her room to Keitaro's. Doll in hand, she leapt through the hole and walked over to Keitaro's bed. Seconds later, Naru had flopped down onto the bed, sobbing uncontrollably.

"God, please let him return safely. I'll never be able to forgive myself if I don't tell him." She choked out between sobs as she laid there. Mutsumi ended up finding Naruasleep in the manager's roomthe next morning, with a look of undescribable look of anguish on her face.

* * *

The next day – Lunchtime

As Keitaro hurried to the store with his letter, he couldn't help to wonder if he was making a wrong decision. Derrick and Seta had encouraged him all morning to contact the girls, so he felt like they wouldn't misguide him. As he entered the store, he asked the store manager if he could use the fax, in which the fellow was more than happy to oblige. As Keitaro set the letter and map into the machine, his mind caused him to hesitate one last time. Keitaro just shook the negative thoughts out of his head as he punched in the number for Hinata Sou and pressed the dial button.

* * *

**A/N - Yes, I'm back up (I know ya'll were hoping I was gone for good). The powers that be here at kicked my story off because I broke a guideline (apparently, postingsong lyrics is against the rules and unfortunately I started the 1st chapter with song lyrics). Hopefully, I've got those issues worked out and will stay out of trouble so that don't kick me off for good. There is an exert from the song in this chapter. If you would liketo hearthis song, you can listen to it and see the music video for it at Yahoo Music and the band's homepage, www (dot) 12stones (dot) com. Sorry I've taken so long to get the story back up, but I've been busy with final exams and starting a job for the summer. Anyway, I'll try to have Ch. 6 up as soon as possible.  
- OD**


	6. Final Decision Draws Near

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Love Hina or many of the characters in this story. Only a couple of the characters in this story are mine.

"…" – Character talking

'…' – Character thinking

"_Italics_" – Supernatural voices

**Chapter Six: Final Decision Draws Near**

**

* * *

**

Midday – Hinata Sou

The past couple of days for the girls had been rather hectic. After discovering the dark feelings that Keitaro had been hiding from him, they had doubled their search efforts in some vain hope that he was still in Tokyo. Whenever the girls weren't involved in the search effort, most of them sat down to write letters to give Keitaro whenever they saw him again. Each letter was basically the same: it contained an apology to the poor manager and asked for forgiveness. Naru was the only one who didn't write a letter because she wanted to apologize to Keitaro in person for everything.

At this point in the day, most of the girls were lounging in the common room coming up with ideas about what to do next. The girls were soon joined by Naru and Mutsumi, who had just placed some phone calls in search of the missing dorm manager.

"Was he there?" Shinobu asked with a hint of hope in her voice.

"No. Shirai and Haitani haven't seen him either." Naru said in a dejected voice.

"This is ridiculous. The only time his has bothered to contact us was the evening of the second exam, only to tell us not to look for him." Motoko herself was really worried about Keitaro's well-being but put up a good front to hide it from the others.

"If he told us not to look for him, he really must have done badly on the test." Kitsune stated.

"And today is the announcement of the test scores too." Sara added.

'Keitaro. Where could you have gone?' Naru's inner thoughts were eating her alive inside.

"If he fails it again, that would mean he'll have to take it for a fifth …" Mutsumi's words were cut short by Su's entrance into the room.

"Hey everyone! Keitaro just sent us another fax! He also wrote were he was!"

"WHAT!" Everyone crowded around Su and began to read the letter.

To everyone,

I'm in the middle of the Pacific Ocean at a place called Pararakelse Island. I'm doing okay, so please don't worry. - Keitaro

"The middle of the Pacific Ocean!" The girls shouted in unison.

"Is it because his exam didn't go well … that he went on a sad vacation?" Kitsune began to have flashbacks of the previous year when Keitaro and Naru went to Kyoto after they failed. Her thoughts, however, were interrupted by the sound of Naru storming out of the room and heading upstairs.

"Naru, wait! What the hell do you think you're doing!" Kitsune followed her friend into her room and witnessed Naru slamming some clothes into a suitcase and grabbing a passport. "What's with all this! Seriously, you're can't be thinking about going there! Today's the announcement of the Tokyo U. exam scores!"

"Check the scores for me because I'm going to bring that idiot back right now!" Naru scribbled something onto a piece of paper and handed it to Kitsune before grabbing her bags and heading for the exit.

As Naru stormed out of the building and began her quest to bring Keitaro back, a winged figure looked on from the roof with a worried look on his face. 'Oh my, this doesn't look good at all for Derrick's plan. I better go warn him.' Gabriel thought as he took flight and headed back to Pararakelse.

* * *

Later On – Tokyo U.

"Hey, we're here!" Su exclaimed as she outdistanced the others and headed into the mob awaiting the posting of the scores. However, the rest of the girls weren't as excited as the energetic foreigner. They had to bear the weight of finding out the test scores of their best friends.

"Oh my God! Nobody made it this year!" The girls looked over to see Mutsumi reading something.

"Uh, Mutsumi, that's a school bulletin board. The scores are over here." Motoko calmly stated as she pulled the Toudai hopeful back toward the mob.

As the girls scrolled the board looking at the names and numbers, Mutsumi's voice caught their attention once more.

"My name's up there! I made it! After four years, I finally did it!" Mutsumi was so overwhelmed by her emotions that she passed out.

As the rest of the girls tried to bring the Okinawan back to her senses, Kitsune and Shinobu looked at the number Naru had given them earlier and frantically searched for it.

"Let's see, A44251. Naru Narusegawa. She made it! Naru made it too!" Kitsune was so overjoyed to see her best friend's name on the list. "Let's go get the party started!"

"Wait! We still haven't checked Sempai's scores."

"But Keitaro ran away with his test I.D. We don't know what his number is?"

"They've posted names also. We can find it!" Shinobu began to panic as looked at the scores once again.

The rest of the girls joined her and, in a little bit, stopped in front of a board with more names posted. The name and number at the top of the board caught their attention.

A35628 – Keitaro Urashima

"Where have I heard that name …" "Wait a minute, if that's …" "It's impossible …"

"OH MY GOD! HE MADE IT! HE FINALLY MADE IT!" The girls' celebration was loud enough to be heard within a five mile radius of the campus.

"Wait a minute. If that idiot passed, then why did he run away?" Sara asked.

"Well, his answers on the English section looked very sloppy. Kind of like they were done in the last few minutes, but if you look closely, he got them all right." Mutsumi explained to the group while holding Keitaro's answer sheet (how she was allowed to get someone else's test answers, I don't know).

"He must have thought that he didn't make it, so he ran away." Motoko stated.

"Who cares? He made it now how do we enroll him?" Kitsune turned to Mutsumi as she finished.

"Let's see, today's March 10th. So we need to mail the testing identification in 5 days and we'll be Toudai students."

"WHAT!Five days! But we don't have his I.D.!" the girls screamed out in unison.

'Oh man, this is going to be a real problem. Naru left me her I.D., so I can take care of her stuff. But Keitaro didn't leave … God I wish I could understand that boy.' Kitsune thought to herself.

* * *

The Next Morning - Pararakelse Island

Keitaro was in a dead sprint on his way back to the excavation site. By now, he was absolutely furious with Derrick for lying to him. Keitaro had gone to the mission church to retrieve some items that Derrick had left behind. As he began to search the room, he noticed something sticking out from underneath the bed. As Keitaro examined it, he noticed that it looked like black leather. He knelt down a pulled the object out from underneath the bed. Actually, it ended up being two objects. Keitaro's eyes widened as he recognized the leather trench coat and black hat, the same items that person he met in Japan wore.

As Keitaro made it back to the site, he noticed Derrick talking to some native girl who looked to be about the same age as the Dark Angel. Keitaro didn't take the time to look at her as he grabbed Derrick's arm and pulled him to an area that was isolated.

"Keitaro, what the hell's your problem? Did you get those supplies?"

"Did you expect to hide you're identity from me forever? I found that coat and hat you were hiding underneath your bed! Now, how do you explain that, or do you have some more bullshit lies to give me!"

'Damn, he knows who I am. Mostly.' Derrick knew this wasn't the time or place for Keitaro to know what he really was. "Look, Keitaro. For the most part, you now know who I am. However, there are still some things about me that I can't share with you. However, you will find out eventually."

"I thought you were my friend, Derrick! The least you could do is be truthful to me!"

"I am! In due time, you'll find out what you need to know!"

As Keitaro stormed off and headed back to the dig, Derrick just sat on a nearby rock and began to dwell on his thoughts. However, a quiet voice interrupted the young Saiyan.

"Um … D-Derrick? Are you okay?" He looked up to see Nyamo, the native girl/worker he was talking to earlier.

"Yeah. My friend and I just got into a little argument. He's pretty pissed off at the moment. Hopefully, it will pass."

"I hope so. He looks so much better when he's not mad." Nyamo suddenly began to blush as she realized what she just said.

"Okay, getting a little off topic, aren't we?" Derrick quipped.

"Well, shouldn't we get back to work."

"I'll catch up. If Seta asks where I'm at, just tell him I had to run to town for something. Okay, Nyamo?"

"Okay."

Derrick read the mind of the young girl as she left. 'What? Even she's been checking out Keitaro. The guy's a lady's man and doesn't even know it.' he thought to himself before staring at the ground again.

After Nyamo was out of sight, Gabriel appeared in the clearing to talk. "What's wrong Derrick? Looks like you've had a bad day."

"You could say that."

"Well I doubt that your day is going to get any better." When Derrick gives him a puzzled look, the archangel points in a westward direction toward the sky. "Use you ki sensing abilities and tell me what you can detect."

Derrick does so and, after a few seconds, goes cold with terror. "That's that Naru girl! Even worse, she pissed off at Keitaro! Didn't those girls find out about Keitaro's inner demons already?"

Gabriel nodded his head in response.

"Then why is she mad at him! Damn, this isn't going to help my plans at all!"

"I'm afraid that your plan wasn't going to work to begin with. You were hoping to suppress that dark seed to keep it from overtaking Keitaro, but that was a long shot at best. You're going to have to overcome your fears from that demonic battle that landed you in this predicament and prepare for a fight like no other!"

After Gabriel finished this spill, Derrick stood up and ran with remarkable speed back to the mission church. 'Gabriel's right. I need to get myself ready for the inevitable.' Derrick thought to himself the whole time.

* * *

Later on that Day – Lunchtime

Keitaro had just sat down at the restaurant and ordered some lunch. Many thoughts were racing through his head: the argument with Derrick earlier, his time on Pararakerusu working, the Toudai exam results, and (of course) the girls back in Japan. 'I hope that Mutsumi and Naru made it in. Oh no, I'm thinking about them again. I still need some time before I can see them face-to-face.' Keitaro thought to himself as he received his order. The young ex-ronin (as of yesterday) also began to ponder about something else: before he came to the restaurant, Seta had told him that working on the archeology dig seemed to be doing him good. Keitaro couldn't argue with him because he was actually right.

"Perhaps I am better suited for work than study."

"Mew." Was the response from the hot springs turtle sitting beside the unsuspecting ronin.

"Really, you think so?" Keitaro's eyes widened as he soon recognized who he was talking to. "Tama! How did you get here!" It was at that point he heard footsteps stop right behind him and a suitcase drop. Keitaro whipped his head and a look of terror crossed his face when he saw who it was. There stood Naru, wearing a tattered shirt and cut off shorts and covered with dirt and sweat from her journey. If looks could kill, Keitaro would've turned to dust on the spot.

"N-Narusegawa. No … it can be … you." Keitaro's words were cut short as he took off running from the restaurant, with the auburn-haired girl in hot pursuit.

"Stop right there Keitaro!" The young man had no intent of stopping as he began to run across the ruins at the excavation site. Seta, Nyamo, and some of the other workers watched as the Keitaro and Naru sped across the area. "Why won't you quit running!"

"Please just forget about me and leave!" Keitaro pleaded as he headed for the jungle.

"You're not getting off that easy, baka!" Naru screamed as she stopped to pick up a stone artifact and hurdled it at the fleeing boy's head. A couple of seconds and a "Coward!" shout later, the stone object laid Keitaro out long enough for Naru to start dragging him back the other way. "C'mon, let's go!"

"Huh. Go were?" the semi-conscious Urashima asked.

"Back to Toudai to see the results! Now shut up and come with me!"

"But we're in the middle of the ocean! Besides, there's no need for me to see them!" Keitaro shouted.

"First, we can definitely make it back in time! Second, didn't we promise each other that we would make it in together! Now don't jump to conclusions before you see the results!"

Keitaro, by now, had lost all patience. 'Naru still doesn't get it, does she!' The same feeling that caused him to snap at Hinata Sou a few weeks ago overtook him once again. Without thinking, the most damaging thing he could say to Naru left his lips.

"NARUSEGAWA, I WANT TO FORGET YOU AND TOUDAI! SO JUST DROP DEAD AND LEAVE ME ALONE ALREADY!"

Naru came to a dead stop and let go of Keitaro's arm. Those words nearly ripped her heart in two. Suddenly, it hit Keitaro that he just said those words. "Uh … wait … I meant …" Keitaro never found the words to say before the shock overtook Naru and caused her to pass out.

"Narusegawa!" Keitaro went to rush to her side, but tripped over his own feet and landed head first on the stone that Naru had thrown earlier, knocking him out cold.

* * *

An Hour or So Later

After what seemed like an eternity to them, Naru and Keitaro woke up in his tent. Naru's chest felt like a dagger was lodged in her heart from the words Keitaro had said to her earlier. Keitaro, on the other hand, felt like a construction crew was hammering away at his head thanks to Naru and his own clumsiness. As both of them began to come to their senses, they noticed a young girl placing cold washcloths on their foreheads.

"Uh … Shinobu?" Keitaro began to sit up and shake out the cobwebs in his head. "It's okay I'm fine."

"Thanks, I think I'm alright now." Naru said as she now sat up and took a look at the young girl. "Uh, Shinobu? When did we get back to Hinata Sou?"

Keitaro took another look at the girl and then at his surroundings and realized what was happening. "She's not Shinobu!" The young native girl paused for a second before bowing to the two and ran out of the tent. "She looked so much like Shinobu." Keitaro chuckled before glancing over at Naru. That, however, was when the good mood left.

"Idiot! It's your fault that I traveled all the way here and exhausted myself!"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry! But Naru, why did you come here?" Deep inside his head, a small voice said "_She's only here to rub your miseries in your face_." 'What the hell was …' Keitaro never finished his thought as he noticed Naru looking down at the ground, trying to hide her face from him.

"You really don't understand other people's feelings, do you?"

'Now there's the pot calling the kettle black.' Another one of those snapping impulses caused him to think.

"I was really worried about you Keitaro." Naru said as she lifted a hand to her face to wipe away a tear. Keitaro dropped his head to look at her face, only to get a fist in the face for his troubles. "Idiot, don't look at other people's faces!" Naru's impromptu hissy fit was cut short when Seta entered the tent, accompanied by the girl from earlier.

"Well Naru, I haven't seen you in a while. You two still getting along okay?"

"Ah, Seta-Sempai! What are you doing here?"

Both Keitaro and Naru paused as the young girl poked her head out from behind Seta and then stepped into full view. "Seta, who's that girl?" Keitaro asked.

"Oh, you mean Nyamo. She's a native of this island and one of my part-timers, although she is still fairly young. She wanted to help out so bad, so I hired her. She's also the one who looked after you two."

"Oh. Well, thank you Nyamo." Naru then face-faulted as Nyamo just stood there with a puzzled look on her face.

Seta could help but laugh. "She doesn't understand Japanese, Naru."

"Thank you, Nyamo. You saved us." Keitaro spoke in perfect English. Nyamo's turned bright red as she bowed and exited the tent once again.

"I think she likes you Keitaro. I just now remembered that she was staring at you from a distance yesterday." Seta said, mixing a laugh or two in between words.

"Ah, no wait. I …" Keitaro then remembered that Naru was with them and turned to see a frightening look in her eyes. Unfortunately, Seta had just given Naru something to torment the poor with. 'Oh shit!'

"I see, while I spent all this time looking for you, you go and develop such a good relationship with the native girl. Man, I feel like an idiot." Naru then stood up and headed for the exit, bowing to Seta on the way out. "I'm so sorry to have bothered you Seta-Sempai. I'm leaving."

"Naru, wait!" Keitaro was doing his best to keep his composure. "_You see, she doesn't even want one person to have any kind feeling toward you. Just imagine how the rest of them would act_." The dark voice said as it once again filled Keitaro's head.

"Uh Keitaro, shouldn't you hurry up and catch her?" Seta asked.

Keitaro rushed out of the tent and took off after Naru, who had hitched a ride on one of the giant turtles that inhabited the island. This one she took was one that Seta used to haul supplies and it was very fast for its size. Keitaro desperately chased after them as they sped across the excavation site. "Naru, wait! You've got the wrong idea! This is the first time that I've ever met her!"

"Leave me alone! After all, didn't you say you wanted to forget about me!" Naru was so busy yelling at Keitaro and trying to get the turtle to go faster that she didn't notice the experimental cave up ahead. Keitaro did, however, and tried to get them to stop.

"Naru, look out! Big Tama, stop!" The giant turtle stopped right at the edge of the hole, but sent Naru flying into it. "Naru!" Keitaro shouted as he hurried to the edge to see if she was okay. About that same time, the turtle decided to kick the hapless ronin and sent him falling down next to her.

As both of them stood up and dusted off, Naru lost control of her temper yet again. "What the hell is a giant hole doing out here!"

"It's an experimental cave that I dug the other day. Seta said that I dug it too deep." Keitaro said with a nervous smile on his face.

"How are we going to get out of here, baka!" Naru shouted as Keitaro shook his head.

"I don't know. Seta can't hear us from down here."

"But there's only one flight to Japan a day from this island! If we don't …!" Naru's words died in her throat as she and Keitaro saw the plane take off.

Some arguing and a failed attempt to climb out of the hole later (which gave Keitaro an eyeful, to say the least), both of them sat at opposite sides of the hole. 'I can't believe that Narusegawa came all the way here for me. And after I said that I wanted to forget her, told her to drop dead,and tried to run away.' Keitaro thought to himself. He then decided to break the silence.

"Hey Naru, did you make it this year?"

"I don't know, but I think that I did very good and …"

"What! You haven't even seen the results yet!"

"It's all your fault! The results are out and you've been here wandering around. I think it's time you tell me now. How did you do, and why did you run away to this place? You didn't do well, did you?"

Keitaro sighed as he knew he had to give in to the inevitable. "Actually, when we started the last section, I looked at the test and knew everything."

"Really? Then what happened?"

Keitaro removed his glasses and closed his eyes to fight back the tears. "I became too relaxed and fell asleep. When I woke up, there was only five minutes left and I didn't have anything on my answer sheet. I tried so hard to answer everything, but my head was so messed up that I don't remember what exactly happened."

"You fell asleep during the test! Are you an idiot!" Naru stopped her verbal abuse tirade as she noticed the tears rolling down Keitaro's face.

"Yes, I am. It's because I'm so useless that I couldn't bring myself to see you guys, so I left."

Now…

What Naru thought: 'So that's why. The poor guy.' She thought with a look of concern and compassion on her face.

What she did 2 seconds later: "Why you … are you still a man or what!" she screamed as she grabbed Keitaro by the shirt collar. She suddenly snapped out of her fury and a smile returned to her face. "Well, let's go back anyway. Everyone else is worried sick about you."

'What? The others are worried about me?' "_Don't listen to her! It's all lies, my friend_." the dark voice tried to convince Keitaro. 'Shut up, you stupid voice!' Keitaro's thoughts screamed back. Keitaro decided to give his answer, regardless of the consequences, to Naru. "Narusegawa, I …uh …thanks, but I'm definitely not going to make it in. Besides, I have a job to do here. I've felt much better since I started this job." He stated in a calm voice while pointing to the pile of digging tools that he and Derrick left in the hole a couple of days earlier.

'Not what I wanted to hear.' Naru then looked at the pile of tools beside Keitaro. 'Wait a minute …' "Hey! We could use these tools to dig at the side and try to get out!" she shouted as she picked up a shovel and began digging away.

'God, why didn't I think of that!' Keitaro wondered while he grabbed a pick ax. He then noticed that Naru was moving almost at the speed of light as she removed dirt at a massive rate. "Uh, aren't you going a little overboard Naru! Please, slow down! You might damage something!"

"Wow, I never knew digging could be so much fun!" was the response to Keitaro's pleas.

Nyamo noticed all the noise and commotion coming from the hole. She walked over to the edge of the hole to see the two strangers from earlier: the girl was just digging away at the sides of the hole while the boy was trying desperately to get her to slow down. Nyamo was close enough to hear a "Clang!" sound from Naru's shovel echoing off the sides of the cave.

"Keitaro, I think I found something!"

"What! No way!" Keitaro barely had enough time to reply as Naru snatched the pick ax out of his hands and began to hammer away. "Naru, wait! You can't dig that hard! You need to use these smaller tools!"

"This is so cool! It might be a great discovery!" Naru gave one last swing of the pick ax and watched it drive into the ground. That's when she and Keitaro noticed the water trickling out of the ground.

'Uh oh.' 'Oh shit, this won't end well.' Those were the last thoughts Naru and Keitaro had before a torrent of scalding hot water sent the two flying out of the hole. The next thing Keitaro remembered was lying on the ground with a girl in his arms.

"Ow! That hurt like hell. I can't believe you just dug up a hot spring. Naru, are you alright." Keitaro's eyesight cleared up just enough for him to realize that the girl in his arms was Nyamo.

"What are you doing! Get off of her, pervert!" Naru screamed as she sent Keitaro flying courtesy of a Naru Punch. Naru gave an exasperated sigh and turned away from the hole, with Nyamo saying something to her in her native language. Seconds later, Keitaro crash landed into the hole.

"_See my friend. She doesn't care for you at all. Why do you still bother_?" the dark voice echoed once more. 'Wherever that voice is coming from, I wish it'd stop.' Keitaro thought as he stood up and regained his bearings. It was at this point when he caught first glimpse of the magnificent mural that stood in front of him. "Hey Naru! Nyamo! Check this out!"

* * *

A Short Time Later

Almost everyone working at the excavation site was now examining the mural that Keitaro and Naru had discovered. Seta began to tell them about the Turtle Civilization that inhabited the island at one time and how they had found some similar murals. This one, however, was larger than any of the others on the island. This find excited Seta and Keitaro, and they wanted to uncover the remaining secrets about this lost civilization. As Keitaro loaded up the supplies on Seta's van, Naru couldn't help but wonder about how different Keitaro seemed to be. She also tried to be friendly to Nyamo, but the young native girl was terrified of the violent Japanese girl and ran for cover.

"Hey Naru, we're getting ready to leave in search of some ruins in the middle of the island." Keitaro stated.

"We'll take you to the airport on the way. You need to get back to Japan." Seta added.

"What! But what about your scores Keitaro?"

"Well, I'm not going to make it anyway, and Seta really needs my help. You really need to get back to Japan and see the results. I hope you make it in. Goodbye, and say hi to Mutsumi for me." Keitaro told her as he hurried to join Seta, Nyamo, and Big Tama in the van.

"Wait! Seta, please take me with you!" Naru's outburst caught everyone off guard.

* * *

The Next Day

It was now March 12th, three days until the deadline for Tokyo U. Naru wondered how she got into this situation. She was stuck in a van traveling a mountainous area in the desert with a group of people dealing with things she had no interest in. When Keitaro or Seta asked if she wanted to return to town, she would vehemently object the idea. She couldn't pull herself away from Keitaro (although you wouldn't get her to admit it) and figured there would be no harm in it since the girls would mail the needed items for her to enroll. She then tried to make friends with Nyamo once again, only for the young girl to hide behind Keitaro.

"I think you're scaring her." Keitaro replied with a chuckle.

As Naru began to coax Nyamo and argue with Keitaro, Seta let out a warning about the awful roads ahead. None of them heard the warning, and as Seta's awful road skills began to mix with the road conditions, everyone was tossed around the back of the van in an awful fashion. Suddenly, the door on the side opened, causing Keitaro, Naru, Nyamo, Tama, Big Tama, and a few of the supplies to fall out and tumble down the mountainside and into the vast desert that awaited beneath. A minute or two later, Seta's van ends up falling down a ravine.

For several hours, the group traveled through the vast desert without any sight of Seta, shade, or water. After a failed attempt to make some shelter and rest, Keitaro and Naru were soon devoid of all energy and clung to Big Tama for dear life. After a few minutes passed, an exhausted Keitaro though he was seeing a mirage of Toudai. Soon, his eyesight began to clear up and he couldn't believe what he was seeing. Naru and Nyamo soon saw the exact same thing: a massive oasis, complete with a waterfall and centered around a huge rock structure. The group, with a newfound surge of energy, hurried to the hidden paradise and began the necessary preparations. Keitaro found some food for the group, while Naru and Nyamo made themselves some leaf bikinis to replace their tattered clothes. After the group ate supper (with proved that Keitaro's cooking skills far surpassed Naru's) and settled in for the night, both Naru and Keitaro found out some things about Nyamo's past. The most important thing they found out about was Nyamo's grandfather and her reasons for helping with the archeology dig. Keitaro promised to help Nyamo in any way possible, which tugged on Naru's heart strings a little bit. After some normal Keitaro/Naru alone time craziness, the entire group went to sleep.

* * *

March 13th – Two Days until Deadline

After waking up and having some breakfast, the group began to make preparations for a rescue effort. Keitaro figured that since a trek across the desert would be disastrous, their only hope was to make a giant flag to place on top of the rock structure. However, the only thing he had to use was a blanket from the campsite, which meant the group would be one blanket short. 'Well, I guess I'll do without so that the other two won't have to deal with the harsh cold at night.' he thought to himself. "_You should make that Naru bitch go without a blanket for a night. Might do the sorry ice queen some good_." Another dark voice said in Keitaro's head. 'Damn, those voices are still there! No matter how hard I try to ignore them, they won't go away.'

A few minutes later, Keitaro had the flag finished and placed it at the top of the rocks. On his way back down for lunch he ran into Naru, who seemed to have something weighing on her mind.

'It really seems that he's changed a lot since he got here. He seems more mature and happy. Also has gotten more handsome in my opinion.' Naru thought to herself as she saw the young man approaching.

"Hey Naru. Everything okay?" Keitaro asked.

"Yeah. I think that Nyamo is off trying to work on something for our rescue effort. Keitaro, do you mind if I tell you something personal."

"Uh, not at all." Keitaro was a little bit worried about what Naru was fixing to tell him.

"Keitaro, I think it's real sweet that you're trying to help Nyamo. After everything we found out about her, she really needs someone to look after her."

"Hold on a sec. You think what I'm doing is sweet? You are you and what have you done with Narusegawa?" Keitaro replied in a joking manner.

"Watch it now, baka." Naru replied while playfully slapping him on arm. "Speaking of Nyamo, we should go see if she needs help. Why don't you go check over in that direction, okay?"

"Alright." The young man answered as the two went their separate ways.

Keitaro made his way to the waterfall after talking to Naru. 'What has gotten into her? She should be worried about being stuck here and the Tokyo U. stuff as I am.' Keitaro was so wrapped up in his thoughts that he almost didn't notice Nyamo washing underneath the waterfall. Almost. He was completely caught off guard by the sight of the young girl naked that he began his usual forgiveness pleas that he mastered at Hinata Sou. He turned away from the waterfall just in time to Naru charging toward him and preparing to deliver another all too familiar punch.

"Pervert!" she screamed as Keitaro was sent flying into a different part of the oasis.

Keitaro began to pick himself up off the ground as Naru approached him again. "You never learn, do you baka!" Naru took a few more steps before Keitaro finally looked up from the ground. His brown eyes, usually filled with care and compassion, now had a look of utter hatred.

"It's always like this, isn't it Naru? You never give me the chance to explain myself or open your eyes and see a situation thoroughly! You make me sick, you selfish bitch!" Keitaro screams at the now-terrified girl.

"How dare you talk to me like that!" Naru shouts back, trying to mask the shock from Keitaro's behavior. She swung another right at him, only for Keitaro to catch it with little effort.

"_This ought to be a good show._"

"I hate you!" The darkness inside overtook every aspect of Keitaro as his right hand flew up from his side and connected with Naru's face, knocking her down to the ground. Naru, rubbing her cheek in pain and fighting the tears, looked up in terror at the young man.

"_Stupid girl. It's about time she got a taste of her own medicine, wouldn't you agree Keitaro?_" the dark voices rang out in Keitaro's head. He quit listening to them long enough to come to his senses and realize what happened. "Oh God, what have I done! Narusegawa, are you alright?" Keitaro went to help her up, but Naru backed away and huddled against a nearby tree. The look of terror on her face and the tears in her eyes broke Keitaro's heart. He could even muster any words after that. The only thing he could do was run.

After several hours, Naru and Nyamo returned to the campsite to notice that dinner had already been fixed and a campfire started. Naru looked around to see Keitaro sitting in a nearby clearing. Naru wanted desperately to talk to him, but decided that it would be best to talk about it in the morning. After a few more hours had passed, Naru and Nyamo decided to go to sleep. Keitaro, however, remained sitting in the clearing, oblivious to everything except for the constant barrage of dark thoughts in his head.

'I can't believe I did that to Naru earlier! Adding that to what I said to her yesterday about wanting to forget her, she really must hate me now.'

"_She deserved it my friend. She's treated you nothing but scorn and hate. She doesn't care for you at all!_"

'Shut up! That's not true at all!'

"_Oh, but it's true. And just image what the rest of them will think when Naru tells them about what happened._"

'Oh no! If they find out about it, they'll make sure that I never return to Hinata Sou. If that happens, I'll have nowhere to go.' Keitaro hung his head at the thought of that happening.

"_True, but I can help you. There's a way out of all of this. A way to escape this pain and sorrow. And them._"

'But how…'

"The key to your answers lie in that supply bag at the camp. You can finally have a say in your own life, without those meddlesome girls interfering time."

Keitaro stares at the ground for a few seconds, then slowly gets up and heads for the campsite. He bypasses the sleeping girls and heads for the supply bag that remained with the group after falling out of Seta's van. He reaches in to pull out a pistol that Seta had kept to shoot snakes with in the jungle. Keitaro tucked it into the waistband of his pants before grabbing a notepad and pencil out of the bag as well. He quickly writes a small note on a sheet of paper and goes to place it in Naru's hand. As he wraps Naru's hand around the piece of paper, Keitaro can't help but notice how peaceful and beautiful she looked in her sleep.

"Naru, I'm so sorry for everything. After tonight, you'll never have to worry about me being the cause of your pain ever again." the young man whispered before heading off into the dark confines of the forest.

Derrick, wearing the dark attire and cross chain that he had grown so accustomed to, was kneeling at the altar in the mission church in town. With him was a priest, a member of the missionary team that the Dark Angel had befriended. This priest took it upon himself to provide some spiritual guidance for Derrick after finding out what he was and why he was on Pararakelse. After receiving a blessing from the priest, the Dark Angel stood up and prepared to exit the church. At the doorway, his progress was halted by the sudden appearance of Gabriel.

"I take it you're on the way to save Keitaro?" the archangel asked.

"Yeah. I sensed that his soul had finally caved in to the dark seed inside of him." Derrick responded while placing his sword on his back and putting on his hat.

"Before you go, you might need this." Gabriel held out his hands and created a sphere of blue energy. "Place your hand on it to receive its power."

As Derrick placed his hand on the glowing sphere, a flood of images entered into his head and almost brought him to his knees. "What in the world was that?"

"The images from the girls that you wanted me to collect. Be sure to use them wisely on Keitaro." As Gabriel was saying this, he noticed a slender line of red fur wrapped around Derrick's waist. "What is that around your waist?"

"Since this is a copy of my original body, I found a way to grow the tail that was part of my Saiyan birthrights. Just in case." the Dark Angel stated.

"Good luck with that. The cloud cover's so thick out there that no moonlight whatsoever is making it through. Just be careful in case you do transform, okay?"

"Okay." Derrick responded as he ran past Gabriel out of the church and began his flight to the oasis. Within no time, he entered the vast desert that inhabited Pararakelse. As he surveyed the sandy terrain, he jerked his head to one side at the auras of other people.

'Seems that the rest of the girls made it to the island alright.' Derrick though as he turned his head back toward the direction of his intended target. After a few more seconds, the oasis came into view. 'There's no turning back now. I have to save Keitaro or else both of us are doomed.'

* * *

**A/N - So, what do ya'll think? Please review!  
- OD**


	7. Darkness vs Destiny

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Love Hina or many of the characters in this story. Only a couple of the characters in this story are mine.

"…" – Character talking

'…' – Character thinking

"_Italics_" – Supernatural voices

**Chapter Seven: Darkness vs. Destiny – Choose Your Fate, Keitaro**

* * *

Keitaro was having a difficult time making it to his intended destination. The lack of moonlight made the oasis darker than normal and the path to the waterfall hard to see. After a few minutes, however, he reached the edge of the pool beneath the waterfall. 

"_Go on, Keitaro. End your suffering now._" the dark voice in his head urged.

'Well, guess that it's all for the best. I'll no longer be a burden to anyone else on this planet.' Keitaro thought as he removed the gun from his waistband and raised it up to his temple. He began to fight back the tears as he slowly pulled the trigger and listened to the sound of the gun firing.

* * *

Naru's sleep was interrupted by a loud bang off in the distance. 'What in the world was that noise?' she thought to herself as she sat up. She took a moment to scan her surroundings. Nyamo was lying next to her in the other blanket, the turtles were sleeping nearby, the campfire was beginning to burn out, and it appeared that someone had rummaged through the supply bag. The only thing missing was Keitaro. That's when she noticed the crumpled piece of paper in her hand. Naru slowly opened the paper and carefully read its contents. 

Narusegawa,

By the time you read this letter, I will be gone forever. Never again will you or anyone else have to be troubled by my pathetic existence. I just wanted you to know that I'm sorry for everything. I never meant to be the cause of so much pain and suffering for you or the other girls for that matter. I loved you more than anything and it tore my heart apart today to realize how much I have hurt you. My failures, in life, in keeping my promises, trying to enter Toudai, and in being a good caretaker for you girls, have made me realize that I'm better off dead. Please live a good life from now on, and good luck at Toudai. Goodbye.

Keitaro Urashima

'What, a suicide note? Then that means ... please God, no!' Naru shot up off of the ground as panic began to set in. As the thoughts began to swirl in her head, she grabbed her blanket to protect her from the cold nighttime air and ran into the forest, hoping that her darkest fears haven't come true. 'He can't be gone! Not yet! Not before I've gotten the chance to tell him how I truly feel!' her mind repeated over and over as she stumbled through the darkness, blinded by the torrent of tears leaving her eyes.

"KEITARO!" Off in the distance, she could hear another shot go off.

* * *

"_What's this? Why is he still here_!" 

Keitaro slowly opened his eyes to recognize that he was still standing along the shore of the pool. 'Wait, shouldn't I be dead already? What gives?' That's when he noticed that something was holding his arm, and the gun, away from his body. Then he noticed a flame shoot up nearby. And then another. And more soon followed. In a matter of seconds, a small series of flames had been created along the shore of the water, the edge of the forest, and along the rock face of the waterfall. These flames provided enough light for Keitaro to see the ominous figure that had a hold of his arm. "Derrick, is that you?"

"Yeah, it's me." the Dark Angel replied as he lifted his head up so that his face would be recognizable in the faint light.

"You sorry little bastard! How dare you interrupt me from doing this!" Keitaro screamed as he snatched his arm away from Derrick's grasp and held the gun back to his head.

"You don't want to do this Keitaro."

"What gives you the right to tell me what to do, you conniving liar!" the young man shouted back as he cocked the gun and prepared to fire again. Just before he pulled the trigger, a mysterious force pulled the gun away from Keitaro's body and pointed it in Derrick's direction just in time the gun to fire. Keitaro watched in horror as the bullet entered Derrick's chest. 'Oh God, what have I done!'

"Nothing that's going to bother me much." Derrick said as the wound began to close up.

"How is that possible? A bullet wound to the heart would kill almost anybody. What in the hell are you, Derrick?"

"Don't you know you can't kill something that's already dead, Keitaro?" Keitaro looked on in both confusion and awe. "You want to know what I am. Well it's time for me to tell you everything. I'm a Dark Angel, a soul that is in limbo trying to right the wrongs that are keeping me out of Heaven. About seven months ago, I was in the same situation that you're facing now. I felt that my life was worthless and nobody cared for me. And I'm here to prevent you from making the same mistakes I made."

"Mistake? My entire existence is a mistake!"

"That's not true, Keitaro. God never creates a soul with the intention of it being worthless. That feeling, that entire concept that you have developed, is the result of the seeds of darkness plaguing your heart."

"Huh?"

"Every difficult moment you've had since your arrival at Hinata Sou was all a test by God. A small portion of your life, and soul, was meant to be broken so that you would develop stronger spiritually. However, some demons found a way to inhabit your mind and amplified those dark feelings you suppressed. Before they left your body, they planted a dark seed in your heart to grow and finish their dark work by feeding you lies. Every suicidal thought or act of hostility toward someone you cared about, that was the darkness taking over you." the Dark Angel continued.

"That may explain some things, but not everything. Like why I failed the Tokyo U. tests for the fourth time or why none of the people I care about want me around." Keitaro said in a depressed tone.

"Well, I can help you with one of those." Derrick said as he stepped closer to Keitaro. As he got right up in Keitaro's face, he reached out and placed a hand on the young man's forehead. After a couple of seconds passed, a flood of images filled Keitaro's mind. He was now at the mercy of every intimate though of the Hinata girls. After a few seconds passed, the images subsided and Keitaro collapsed to his hands and knees.

"Those images…the girls. But that can't…" Keitaro muttered in between sobs.

"It is. Those were the deepest and most private thoughts that the girls have about you. I know you're having a hard time believing that anybody cares for you because the Devil's lies have filled your heart. Those girls care for you more than life itself, just like you do about them. And they aren't the only ones Keitaro. You have family and friends that care for you deeply, and a God that created you that desires to be with you during the times of light and darkness."

"But how can you be so sure, Derrick? Look at what's happened to you."

"I'm sharing with you the things that I refused to hang on to, which is why I've been stuck wandering in darkness. You have the blessing of getting to know these things so that you can fight the darkness and lies of the demons. I can help lead you off of the path of doom." Derrick stated as he offered a hand to Keitaro. Keitaro looked up from the ground to see this and began to raise his hand toward the Dark Angel's. Unfortunately, it never reached its destination as the darkness once again seized control of Keitaro.

"_NO! I won't let this heavenly reject destroy my work_!" the dark voice screamed out of Keitaro's body.

"AAAHH! Leave me alone! Get out of my body, you monster!" Keitaro shouted as he tried to maintain control of his physical being.

Derrick was caught off guard by this turn of events as he took a few steps backward. After a minute of this back and forth struggle, Keitaro's body shot straight up into the air as a wicked laugh pierced the oasis.

"My, it's been awhile. Hasn't it, my young Saiyan friend." the demon-possessed Keitaro said to the now-terrified Dark Angel. The wicked tone of that voice brought back the memories of the fateful day that placed Derrick in his living purgatory. The vicious opponent that nearly destroyed his family and friends, somehow, was back from the dark confines of Hell.

"No, it can't be! I destroyed you months ago! How can you still be alive!" Derrick shouted at his friend-turned-adversary.

"True, you destroyed my physical being when you sent me through that cursed gate, but enough of my dark energy survived to be of some use for my master. The two demons assigned to torment your friend lent me some of their energy to create the dark seed that inhabited this pathetic mortal. Now that I have a body and some of my original strength back, it's time that I begin destroying this planet one soul at a time, starting with Keitaro. But before I do that, I think its time to get a little payback."

After saying those words, the demon/Keitaro's body began to radiate with red energy and grow larger. As the muscles of the demon's host body increased, small sections of Keitaro's skin began to burn and a set of crimson wings appear on his back. In a matter of seconds, lava began to cover the possessed man's body. The lava-covered body, still hovering in mid-air, floated over to the waterfall to begin the finishing touches of his armor. Water from the falls poured over the molten rock, hardening it into a polished black armor of stone. Keitaro's inviting brown eyes were replaced by a burning red glow that shone through the eyeholes of the stone mask. As soon as the volcanic rock finished cooling off, more molten material poured out to form various designs on the armor, as well as horns, a whip-like tail, and two-foot long claws from his fingertips. As he reentered the waterfall one last time to harden the bronze additions to his armor, Derrick began to prepare for the impending battle. The young Saiyan first removed his sword from his back and threw off the black trench coat. Next came the black hat and silver chain, all of which he threw into a pile at a nearby tree. The protective covering of his sword soon made its way to the pile as Derrick walked to the shoreline of the water. Sword in hand, the Dark Angel began to power up and reached his SS2 form in no time.

"Ready to die, Dark Angel!" the demon snapped.

"I'm already dead, stupid. You just need to worry about me sending you back to hell!" Derrick responded as he charged forward and raised his sword up in the air.

"You'll have to do much better than that to beat me!" Demon-Keitaro screamed as he raised his claws up in time to block the sword slash. However, he didn't see the ball of ki energy Derrick had formed in his left hand. The wave of energy that left the Super Saiyan's hand afterward send the demon stumbling back into the rock face of the waterfall. He barely had enough time to lift his head up before the blade of Derrick's sword was slammed through his left shoulder.

"If you're going to brag about being the reincarnation of a demon that beat me senseless, at least try to whip my ass." Derrick scoffed as his foe screamed out in pain. He was so caught up inthe momentthat he didn't see his foe prepare an attack of his own.

"Crimson Claw!" the demon shouted as his fingertip blades swung outward, sending red waves of ki energy crashing into Derrick's midsection and knocking the young warrior into the air. He then removed the sword from his shoulder and tossed it to the side. Demon-Keitaro lunged forward and prepared another attack with his claws. Derrick, still stunned by the first attack, managed to throw up his left arm in defense, resulting in several deep cuts on the arm but protecting the rest of body. The demon then attempted to strike his opponent with a tail strike, but Derrick caught it just before impact.

"I think it's time to turn it up a notch!" Derrick yelled as the golden aura and electricity around him intensified. His hair began to glow and grow in length as the fiery Saiyan powered up to his third Super Saiyan form. The demon became so wrapped up in this sight that he had no time to block the crushing right hand headed for his midsection. As the dark foe doubled over in pain, Derrick sent him crashing to the ground with a clubbing blow across the head.

'That little twerp packs more of a punch than I remembered.' Demon-Keitaro thought as he picked himself up off the ground. He wasn't expecting the ferociousness of Derrick's assaults being to great, or the fact that his new host body couldn't harbor the strength he was so accustomed to the first time these two warriors fought. An aura of fear soon caught the demon's attention as he looked toward the edge of the forest. Unbeknownst to both fighters, Naru stumbled onto the two at the time the demon took control of Keitaro. She was terrified by the transformation that her beloved had underwent and at the current battle. As Demon-Keitaro and Naru made eye contact, very cruel intentions crossed the mind of the dark entity.

"Well if it isn't the conniving ice queen herself! I tried to convince that Keitaro weakling to take you out long ago, but now that he can't stop me, I guess I'll have to do it myself!" the demon shouted as he sped toward Naru. As the demon closed the distance between them at a rapid rate, he swung his claws at the terrified girl. Naru could only see her life flashing in front of her eyes as the bronze, bloodstained claws sped forward. Just before impact, however, something inside Demon-Keitaro caused him to stop the attack.

'No, I won't let you hurt her monster!'

'Impossible! He shouldn't be able to have any type of control over his body now.' The demon attempted another attack on Naru, but soon found himself flying toward the desert against his own will. Derrick drug Demon-Keitaro through the sky away from the oasis, and soon stopped and slung the beast to the desert floor below. The demon had little time to get up from the ground before the Dark Angel brought his hands to his side to charge up an attack.

"Gallet Gun!" Demon-Keitaro looked up just in time to see the wave of ki energy crash into him. As the smoke and sand began to settle from the attack, Derrick charged up another attack. A torrent of energy blasts soonrained down on the defenseless demon. As the debris settled once again, the Dark Angel noticed that his foe was no longer on the ground. 'Where is he at? That attack couldn't have destroyed him already.'

"Here I am, fool!"

Derrick whipped his head toward the direction of the voice, only to be greeted by a bone crushing blow from Demon-Keitaro's tail. The impact was strong enough to open a grizzly wound across the Saiyan's eyebrow, partially blinding him with pain and blood. Still staggering from this attack, Derrick was unprepared to stop the devastating kick to his stomach. The Dark Angel started to double over in pain, only for Demon-Keitaro to grab him by the hair and slinging him to the ground.

"Ah, just like old times." Demon-Keitaro stated as flames began to swirl around him. Derrick slowly picked himself up off the ground to see his demonic foe prepare an attack. "Hellfire Assault!" A torrent of fireballs left the body of the demon and rained down on the young Super Saiyan. After several seconds, the flames on the sandy terrain died down to reveal a sheet of glass formed by the intense heat from the attack. 'That had to hurt.' Demon-Keitaro thought to himself as he descended to the edge of the glass formation. He was so caught up in his handiwork that he failed to notice the reflection of the blue energy sphere directly above him.

"Kamehameha!" The demon soon saw the reflections of Derrick's attack, but couldn't move in time to stop the blue waves of energy from engulfing him. Waves of sand and other debris rushed outward from the point of impact as the young warrior unleashed all of his Super Saiyan fury on Demon-Keitaro. As the attack subsided, Derrick descended to the crater below. He was in obvious pain from the battle and bleeding profusely from his face and arm. To take it a step further, Derrick had used up most of his energy with the Gallet Gun and Kamehameha attacks. Falling to his knees in exhaustion, the young Saiyan draws in deep breaths while clutching his battered left arm. As he looks down in the crater, a look of absolute horror appears as his opponent flies up from the aftermath. Demon-Keitaro, with parts of his armor cracked and breaking off from Derrick's onslaught, flies toward the weary Saiyan with a newfound hatred in his eyes.

"Time to break you, Dark Angel!" the demon screams as he launches a furious assault of punches and kicks. Derrick is able to block them for a moment, but soon falls victim to the attack. The last of the demon's punches connected with so much power that it knocked Derrick back to the border of the oasis. On instinct, the young Saiyan shot up off the ground and charged back into battle, only to be greeted by the slashing claws of Demon-Keitaro. One slash managed to connect with Derrick's midsection, resulting in several gashes on his chest and stomach. The other claw sliced across the Dark Angel's leg, resulting in more deep wounds. As Derrick stumbled backward, his foe launched one last attack. Demon-Keitaro flew forward and drove his horns through the chest of the Dark Angel before he had enough time to recollect his bearings.

"No…it can't end like this." Derrick managed to whisper between coughs. After a few seconds passed, his body returned to its normal form and slid off of the demon's bronze horns, crashing to the ground.

Demon-Keitaro looked down at his bloodied and battered opponent with scorn. 'Look's like my revenge is almost complete.' he thought as he raised up his claws to deliver a death strike. Just like with Naru earlier, a sudden force takes control of the demon. This time, however, it was stronger as the demon struggled to keep the soul of his host body suppressed.

"I won't let you hurt anyone else! Derrick, if you can hear me, get up and finish this monster off! I don't care if you kill me in the process! Just stop him!" Keitaro's voice screamed out of his possessed body.

"We'll see about that, stubborn boy!" the demon yelled as he regained control of Keitaro's body. Upon doing so, he held his hand up in the direction of the oasis. Moments later, Naru and Nyamo were seen flying out of the oasis, drawn to the battlefield by his dark powers. "Apparently, you have no idea what your insolence will cause, Keitaro! You couldn't just follow orders and end your pathetic existence, so now the ones you care about will pay the price! Your two friends there are about to suffer the same fate as your Dark Angel friend!" he shouted as he prepared to launch a fireball attack at the frightened girls.

As Demon-Keitaro readied his attack, a lightning bolt flew from the clouds and knocked him to the ground, causing the attack to disappear. His grip of his dark power on Naru and Nyamo also disappeared as the girls fell to the ground and hurried back to the confines of the oasis. As the stunned monster stood up from the blast, he quickly noticed the intense volley of lightning in the clouds. A few managed to find their way to the desert floor. Suddenly, a massive bolt flew from the sky and struck the battered body of the Dark Angel.

"AAAAAAAAAAHHH!" Derrick screamed as he sat up from the ground. Within seconds, the bloodied warrior was back on his feet, staring down now terrified demon.

"Impossible! You couldn't have survived that!"

"Don't you know you can't kill that which doesn't wish to perish! You've pretty much had your way so far in this battle! But now it's time for us to pick up where we left off the first time!" After these words left Derrick's mouth, he slowly raised his hands toward the sky. As the outstretched arms of the Dark Angel made their way upward, the clouds began to part and reveal the light of the full moon hidden behind them.

'What is this guy up to?' Demon-Keitaro thought to himself. 'Wait; there was a full moon the first time I fought him. That means … oh no!' The dark warrior noticed the Saiyan's tail, which he failed to notice in battle, waving freely in the air as Derrick began to shake uncontrollably at the sight of the full moon.

The muscles on Derrick's body began to grow and his height slightly increased as he struggled to control the shaking sensation gripping his body. After a minute or so of shaking and growing, his body began to emit waves of golden energy and sparks of electricity. "Now it's time to end this!" the young Saiyan screams as a blinding sphere of energy consumes him. Demon-Keitaro shields his eyes and waves of sand fly outward from Derrick's position. After another minute or so passes, the blinding rays of energy start to subside. Demon-Keitaro opens his eyes to see his opponent's completed transformation. The Dark Angel, with brownish-red fur now covering most of the visible areas on his body, raised his head up to reveal the red and yellow eyes that were covered by the bangs of his red hair.

'Looks like my trump card worked after all. This body also has the ability to go Super Saiyan 4, too.' Derrick though to himself as he stared down Demon-Keitaro.

"No! This can't be happening!" the demon screamed in self-denial, knowing his chance for victory was slipping away.

"Come on Derrick; get rid of this monster already!" Keitaro shouted as he retook control of his body one last time. The Dark Angel watched on as the demon momentarily struggled to regain control of his host body. Demon-Keitaro was so caught up in keeping the host's soul under control that he didn't notice the speed of Derrick's oncoming attack until a fist came crashing into his stomach.

"You can't win demon." Derrick told his stunned opponent, who was now doubled over in pain. "Your dark restraints on Keitaro were broken before you took control of his body. That means that no matter what, you'll never have 100 percent control of him. He'll continue to resist your presence. As long as you're fighting a battle on two different fronts, you won't have the focus or strength to beat me."

"Then let's see!" Demon-Keitaro shouted as he spun around to deliver a strike with his tail. Derrick caught it in midair and delivered a kick to the back of the demon, causing the bronze tail to break off as his opponent fell to the ground. This only fueled the blind fury of Demon-Keitaro, who immediately stood up and launched a counterattack. "Crimson Claw!" Waves of ki energy sprung out from both claws, knocking the SS4 Dark Angel backward. The demon began to launch another of his claw attacks, but Derrick dodged them at the last second and grabbed a hold of his opponent's left wrist.

"Are those the best efforts you can put together!" Derrick yelled as he delivered a vicious kick to Demon-Keitaro's head. As his opponent began to fall forward, the fiery Saiyan snatched his arm in the other direction, ripping of the stone and bronze that covered Keitaro's hand. Demon-Keitaro didn't stay down long, however, as he immediately got up and rocked the Dark Angel with a bone crushing kick, following it up with a fierce stab with his remaining set of claws that connected with Derrick's chest. The demonic fighter laughed as he raised his arm, and Derrick's body, up into the air to watch the young Saiyan writhe in pain. This didn't last very long before Derrick forcefully removed the claw from his chest, slung Demon-Keitaro to the ground, and delivered a vicious stomp to the defenseless foe's head. The stunned foe could only stare at the Dark Angel, watching the wounds on his chest close up.

'Damn this guy! He seems more powerful than before!' The demon's thoughts were soon interrupted by a set of hands lifting him up by the horns and throwing him skyward. After traveling a good distance, Demon-Keitaro stopped his progress with a massive flap of his wings. He then noticed that Derrick had appeared right in front of him, reading a final attack.

"FINAL FLASH!"

The massive wave of ki energy was to much for Demon-Keitaro to block and it soon launched him toward the heart of the oasis, where the battle started out at. The energy wave sent the demonic warrior crashing into the giant rock structures of the oasis and his battered body soon fell toward the pool of water beneath. He never made it, however, as Derrick immediately appeared and tossed Demon-Keitaro to the shore. Needless to say, the demon looked like he'd been hit by an atomic bomb. About half of the demon's armor and his wings had been destroyed. The rest of the armor was cracked and starting to fall apart. The bloodied body of Keitaro was now visible in the moonlight. The red eyes that once burned with hatred where now filled with terror as Demon-Keitaro looked up at the Dark Angel, who now stood over him, holding his sword from earlier.

"No,this can't be happening. I'm supposed to be superior to any warrior." Demon-Keitaro managed to mutter between gasps of breath.

"You've brought all of this on yourself! You've interfered with too many lives and caused too much pain, and I won't allow it to continue anymore!" Derrickshouted as the glowing Inner Light symbol appeared on his chest. At the same time, the blade of his sword began to glow with the same white light as the symbol. Derrick brought the sword up and held the tip of its blade over the chest of Demon-Keitaro.

"This won't change anything, you know. Keitaro still has a choice to make and nothing you have done guarantees that he will make the right choice." the demon managed to whisper.

"That may be true, but let's just say that I like his chances of making the right choice without you calling the shots. Now, back to the flames of Hell with you!" With that, Derrick plunged the glowing sword into the heart of Demon-Keitaro. A massive sphere of white light consumed both warriors for several minutes. As the light died down, Derrick, who was now back in his normal form, withdrew the sword from the chest of his fallen opponent. Demon-Keitaro was no more: instead, an unconscious Keitaro laid on the ground, showing no signs of damage from the recent battle. No cuts, scars, or bloodstains were present on the young man. Even his clothes from earlier were intact. Derrick, now visibly spent from the battle, walked over to his pile of items and slowly put his hat and coat back on. He then sheathed his sword and slung it over his shoulder. The only item he didn't put back on was the chain, which he held in one hand as he walked back over to Keitaro, who was starting to regain consciousness.

"What happened?" Keitaro muttered as he slowly sat up and took in the surroundings. "Was that all a dream?"

"Afraid not, Keitaro." Derrick said, startling the young man.

"So, I guess the whole spiritual/supernatural warfare is over, huh?"

"Far from it, Keitaro. You still have a choice to make."

"A choice? What kind of choice?" Keitaro was absolutely confused.

"I want you to close your eyes and hold out both hands." Keitaro did as he was instructed. Derrick used his telekinetic abilities and pulled the handgun from earlier into his hand. He then took that gun and his cross chain and placed them into Keitaro's hand. "Alright, open your eyes."

Keitaro opened his eyes and saw the two items in his hand. "Just what is going on here!" he snapped as he quickly hopped to his feet.

"Here's the choice that will affect the rest of your life and your eternal soul. In on hand, you have the promises of the devil. An escape from the pain in your physical life, but the start of a dark road in your afterlife." Derrick said, staring at the gun. "In the other hand, you have the promises of God, a God that loved all of mankind so much he sent his own son to die so everyone could be closer to him. Life won't be easier, trust me. But there will always be someone with you during those dark times to guide you." he said while staring at the silver and ruby cross. "Now, you heard from both sides. Pick your fate, Keitaro."

As the Dark Angel turned and started to walk away, Keitaro shouted out "Hey, aren't you going to make sure I accept your option! After all, your afterlife's on the line here to!"

Derrick looked over his shoulder in response to the question. "I'm not allowed to interfere with free will. I can't make the choice for you. Forget about anything that would interfere with your decision making. Focus on what's in your mind and heart; let it be the deciding factor." After saying this, the flames he had created earlier to illuminate the area were mysteriously extinguished and a thick column of fog and smoke surrounded the Dark Angel and Keitaro. Moments later, the fog disappeared, revealing Keitaro as the only person in the clearing.

* * *

Keitaro's Decision (Kei's POV)

After the fog and smoked cleared, Derrick was nowhere in sight. The only thing I could manage to do for a minute or two was stare at the empty surroundings. My mind was in mass confusion from the events from earlier. The images of the demon infestation, losing control of my own, the painful exorcism by Derrick (trust me, a sword in the chest hurts like hell, even if you're not the intended target), and now this choice kept playing over and over again in my head. The fact that I'm not a religious person really wasn't helping the thought process any.

I took one look at the pistol from earlier. Upon looking at it, all of the bad moments of the last two and half years flashed in front of my eyes. The repeated failures of trying to get into Toudai, the daily beatings from the girls, and even the rejection by my family and friends. The wrist cutting, the only relief I had for so long from the pain, also entered my mind, as well as the demons who told me the words my tortured soul wanted to hear. Then I looked over the cross on the chain that Derrick had given me. My childhood promise (and sweetheart), first dates with Naru and Mutsumi, Valentine's Day, the now famous Hinata parties, and the other good times at Hinata Sou came to my mind. Then I also thought about the images that I was shown earlier and the mysterious stranger who risked his own soul to help me. These were two very strong cases made by the respective forces.

I tried to bring the barrel of the gun up to my head, closing my eyes tightly in the process. As I did so, the memories of the dark voices and feelings of loneliness intensified. As the gun made it halfway to its intended destination, my eyes cracked open long enough to take another look at the cross pendant. Suddenly, another vision entered my head: the vision of a bloodied man nailed to a wooden cross. I could feel the immense pain going the body of this person. Suddenly, I sensed something familiar in this pain. It was my pain, the same pain I felt during my darkest moments. Suddenly another image snapped into my head. It was her: the little girl that I madethe promise to. She was crying and begging me not to do it, to keep on living for her and everyone else. At this moment, everything Derrick had been trying to tell came together. I wasn't alone and I had a purpose to my life. What that purpose was or what other souls would be with me until the end, I didn't know yet. But my eyes were open to the truth.

'I can't, I won't let the darkness break me again!' I let out a scream of anguish as I threw the gun toward the waterfall. A second or two later, I heard the sound of it splashing into the water. Thank God that part is now over with. I still had more questions than answers, but now I knew which road I would get those answers from.

* * *

**A/N - Okay, Keitaro's made his choice. What will happento him and the rest of the Hinata crowd now. Also, what will happen to our Dark Angel friend. Find out in the next chapter. Until then, please review.  
- OD**


	8. 8 Life's Reawakening

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Love Hina or many of the characters in this story. Only a couple of the characters in this story are mine.

"…" – Character talking

'…' – Character thinking

**Chapter Eight: Life's Reawakening**

* * *

Back at the Mission Church

Gabriel and the priest at the church stared intently and the huge crystal ball on the floor. Gabriel had created the mystical orb so that he could what events between Derrick and Keitaro unfold. Even the archangel himself was surprised to see the evening's events break down into an all-out battle between Derrick and the demonic forces inside of Keitaro. As the two watched Keitaro's decision get underway, they were soon joined by a visibly worn out Derrick.

"Looks like someone had a little too much fun tonight." Gabriel said.

"There was nothing fun about what just happened or about this waiting game. I just wish I could've made the choice for Keitaro and got it over with. This free will stipulation sucks." the Dark Angel responded as he stretched out on a nearby pew, grimacing in pain the whole time. Derrick then turned his head to look at the crystal ball. After a few moments of waiting, the sight of Keitaro throwing the gun into the waterfall was displayed on the ball.

"Looks like our young friend found his way through the Devil's lies." the priest said.

"Well, looks like you did a good job of convincing him to live." Gabriel waited for a response from Derrick. When none came, the archangel looked to see Derrick looking up at the ceiling, with tears beginning to form up in his eyes.

'Thank you, God. Thank you, thank you, thank you.' was the only thing that went through the Dark Angel's head.

"Perhaps we should get him to his quarters. He's in serious need of rest."

* * *

Naru stood at the edge of the clearing. After being freed from the demon's unseen grasp and getting Nyamo to a safe hiding spot, he made her way to the outskirts of the waterfall to see the end of the battle between the Dark Angel and Demon-Keitaro. She also overheard the conversation about Keitaro's choice. She prayed intently that her secret love would make the right choice, and her heart also stopped beating when he started to lift the gun to his head. It was soon replaced by joy and relief at the sight of the gun being hurled into the water. Now, she just stood there as Keitaro mulled over his choice. 

"I'm sure I made the right choice but I don't know where to go from here. God, what do I do?" Keitaro thought out loud as he continued to stare at the cross pendant. He remained in the state, unmoving and thinking the same things, for several minutes.

Naru felt it was time to approach him. To apologize and to tell him how she felt. She slowly made her way out of the forest, pulling her blanket around her tighter. With each careful step across the sand, she slowly made her way closer to the oblivious young man. "Keitaro?"

The voice brought Keitaro out of his mental tug-of-war and back to reality. He quickly turned around to see the auburn-haired girl, bundled up in her blanket and with tears starting to roll down her cheeks. He wanted so desperately to apologize for the events from earlier. Then he realized he left the note with her and made her think he was dead. This sent his panic mode into overdrive.

"N-Naru! I want to apologize for everything that …" He never got to finish his statement as Naru ran toward him. He thought for sure he was about to be sent flying, so he was shocked to see the young girl wrapping her arms around him and crying into his shoulder.

"Keitaro, you don't need to apologize for anything! I should, and so should the rest of the girls! We drove you hurt yourself, to run away, and nearly to end your life!" Naru managed to yell out between sobs.

"But Narusegawa …"

"Keitaro, I'm sorry for everything! If I could turn back time, I'd take back every hit, every insult, every tear you cried, and the pain you inflicted on yourself! You've been the kindest and sweetest person in the world to me and everyone else, and got absolute hell heaped on you in return! With everything that's happened recently, I thought for sure that I had lost you forever! I love you too much and I'd never be able to forgive myself if anything had happened to you!"

'Did she just say what I thought she said?' Keitaro thought as he lifted Naru's head off of his shoulder. It made him sad to see tears in Naru's eyes (or any of the others, for that matter) and this case was no exception. He slowly brought a hand up to her cheek and wiped away a stream of tears. The caring look that inhabited his eyes were now back, which made Naru so happy that her heart could've burst on the spot.

"Keitaro Urashima, I love you. It took almost losing you to make me realize it, but I do. I understand completely that you don't feel the same way anymore, but …"

"Naru, please don't think that! I love you more than life itself!" Keitaro said as he wiped away the other stream of tears. Keitaro's words sent Naru's emotions into overdrive. Unable to hold them in anymore, Naru pushed into Keitaro and forcefully began to kiss him. Keitaro's natural clumsiness kicked in, causing both of them to fall to the ground. Both of them continued to kiss and caress each other until Keitaro felt his clothes being removed. When he cracked his eyes back open, he noticed that, for the most part, the blanket was the only thing covering the two of them. "Naru, wait. Are you sure about…?"

"Yes, I'm sure." Naru replied. "Let's just enjoy this moment Keitaro. For once, I want to be the reason for happiness in your life." She whispered before the two of them began to express their love once more.

* * *

The Next Day

As daylight slowly crept over the oasis, a small ray of sunlight hit Keitaro in the face. He turns his head away from the beam and slowly opens his eyes and tries to make out his surroundings due to his glasses missing. 'Man, what a strange dream.' he thought to himself. He moves his left arm out to the side for it to hit two objects. One of these turned out to be his glasses, which he grabbed and put on with one hand. As his vision greatly improved, he now could see the silver chain lying in the sandy ground. 'Well, I guess that much wasn't a dream. But what about …?' As he started to let out a yawn and move to stretch his arms, he suddenly felt something lying on his right arm. He lifted his head off of the ground to notice something else: a sleeping Naru in his arms and only a blanket covering both of them.

'Wait. If she's here, then that means … THAT STUFF WASN'T A DREAM!' his mind screamed out. His fury of thoughts were soon stopped by the movement of Naru's body against his and the content moan that escaped the sleeping girl. He soon found himself running his fingers through Naru's hair and staring at the smiling face that rested on his chest. 'She looks so peaceful, almost angelic.' Keitaro's thoughts were interrupted again as Naru began to open her eyes and slowly look around.

"Mmm … good morning." Naru muttered in a semi-conscious voice as she pulled herself up to give Keitaro a small kiss on the cheek.

"Good morning Narusegawa. I'm starting to think this is the best sight I've woken up to or that I'm still dreaming." Keitaro replied with a slight chuckle.

"Well, if this is a dream for you, then it means that I'm still dreaming a very good dream." she replied back.

"Hey, I just thought of something." Keitaro said as the two sat up. "Where are Nyamo and the fellow animal travelers at?"

"I got Nyamo and the turtles to a safe hiding place in the oasis during that little battle last night. Whenever we get washed up, we should go find them." Naru noticed at the end of her sentence that Keitaro was staring at something in absolute horror. She then turned to see what that something was, which ended up being a shocked Nyamo, Big Tama, and Tama. Nyamo stared at the young couple as they panicked and started to put their clothes back on, then turned around and ran away. "Nyamo …!" Naru's shout was halted by Keitaro's hand being placed over her mouth.

"I think she's going to need some time to think things through. Let's just get washed up and get some food fixed, then we'll go look for her. Okay?"

Naru nodded in agreement. "Thank goodness the others aren't here or we'd be in one hell of a predicament."

* * *

Later in the Day

After getting cleaned up, dressed, and a very quick breakfast, Naru and Keitaro began their search for Naru. Both of them decided it would be best to split up and meet back at the campsite later. After a break at noontime for lunch, the two doubled up their search effort. A few more hours passed before they found any sign of the young native girl. Keitaro found her hiding in a dense wooded area of the oasis, but she took off running at the sight of him. The young man soon began the chase, which led all the way back to the waterfall. As Keitaro continued to chase Nyamo up the giant rock structures, the young girl noticed she was about to run off of a cliff. She stopped just in time to save herself, but poor little Keitaro pulled a Wile E. Coyote, running straight off of the cliff and landing in a small pool of water below.

'Damn. Immortality or not, that hurt.' Keitaro thought to himself as he picked himself up out of the pool. His eyes soon widened as he beheld a couple of massive stone turtles that were covered by the vegetation. "Is that what I think …it is! It's the turtle artifact Seta's been searching for! Nyamo, go find Naru quickly!"

A few minutes later, Nyamo and Naru made their way across the vegetation and soon found themselves standing on top of the massive structure. "Wow, Keitaro! This is an amazing find!" Naru yelled out as she entered the hidden area.

"Kind of dumb luck, I guess! Who knew that the artifact Seta and Nyamo were looking for was here the whole time!" Naru watched with a lackluster grin as Keitaro and Nyamo looked over the structure. "It's a shame that that I don't have any tools."

Keitaro was able to pull his attention away from the artifact long enough to see Naru walking away with a resigned look on her face. He immediately realized that something must be wrong, so he left Nyamo to examine the artifact by herself as he followed Naru. A couple of minutes later, he saw Naru just standing alone, staring out at the lake with sad look on her face.

"Naru, are you okay?"

"It's nothing really. It's just that, since you've been here, you've had so much more energy than before. You've finally found your calling and, in a way, I'm happy for and jealous of you."

'Her, jealous. Of what?' Keitaro thought to himself. "Why are you jealous of me? Come spring, you're going to be a Toudai student, which is a lot better compared to me."

"Don't be so sure. Last year I was so confident that I made it, but still ended up failing. The truth is, I was too scared to see the results by myself." She said as she slowly grabbed the small cross pendant on her necklace. "That's why, why I was hoping you would be there to see the list with me."

'What!' Keitaro finally saw past Naru's strong front. He now realized how much failing the entrance exams the first time had affected her. She suffered from the same feeling of hopelessness he felt. He also suddenly realized the consequences those feelings nearly had on him.

"Keitaro, I really don't think I can return to Japan. If I failed to make it this time, I will have lost everything." Tears welled up in Naru's eyes at this confession.

'She's seems so much like me now. She's on that dark road that I just on myself. I'm sorry Narusegawa that I didn't understand your plight.' Keitaro thought to himself. He slowly walked up behind her and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Naru, it will be alright if you don't make it this time."

"Huh!"

"We both promised to make it into Toudai together, didn't we? No matter how long it takes, I'll keep that promise."

"Keitaro…" Naru muttered, with tears pouring down her face.

"I know you're scaredof those thoughts of being scared and alone, but I'll be there with you. Anytime you feel that way, just know that I'll be there to help you carry on. I promise I won't run away from your side again."

At this point, Naru had turned around and flung herself into Keitaro's arms and started crying uncontrollably into the young man's shoulder. Keitaro decided the best thing he could do was hold his love in his arms and allow this emotional outburst. After a few minutes, Naru lifted her head up and looked into Keitaro's eyes. Keitaro couldn't help but shed a couple of tears himself now. Everything seemed so perfect now. The woman he loved was in his arms, the beautiful view of the oasis in the sunset, and the barrage of missiles on a collision course with them …

'Hold on! What was that last part!' Keitaro's eyes now widened at the sight of the missiles, which had an all-to-familiar three-eyed symbol on them. "Naru, watch out!" he yelled as he pulled the young woman down to the ground just in time to keep from being hit. The missiles ended up exploding right behind them. "Where the hell did those come from!" Keitaro yelled as he and Naru stood back up.

"Oh no! Keitaro, look!" Naru yelled in a terror-stricken voice as she pointed toward the horizon. Keitaro did just that and saw the Hinata girls running across the desert floor. They had a look of pure hellfire and brimstone in their eyes. Immediately behind them was what appeared to be an army of giant turtles. Judging from the looks on Keitaro and Naru's faces, the four horsemen of the Apocalypse had nothing on this sight.

"I-impossible. They're all here." Keitaro managed to stutter.

"And they look extremely mad! We must've failed again!" Naru cried out.

"I'm not sticking around to find out and neither should you! Let's go!" the young man yelled as he grabbed Naru's arm. Within seconds they were running for their lives from the rest of the girls. They didn't get too far, however, before Motoko's voice rang through their ears.

"Secret technique, 100 Petals Attack!" Almost instantly, hundreds of flower petals surrounded the fleeing couple and exploded, launching them in the air. Amazingly the young couple landed on their feet and continued running, looking back to see another barrage of missiles.

"Are they trying to kill us or what!" Keitaro yelled in frustration.

"More than likely! Not only did we fail and run away again, but we've spent this whole time relaxing, among other things!" Naru yelled in response.

The final barrage of missiles struck, knocking the young couple down to the ground. The force of the explosion had sent them flying back toward the direction of the Hinata girls. As Keitaro and Naru both looked up, they saw a collective look from the girls that could've burned a hole through the Earth. At this point, the young couple took up one of Keitaro's favorite art forms: beg for mercy.

"WE'RE SORRY! WE WON'T RUN AWAY EVER AGAIN AND WE'LL PASS NEXT YEAR! PLEASE JUST DON'T KILL US!" Keitaro and Naru shouted out in unison, bowing before the girls. Their fearful words and actions were greeted with a laugh from Kitsune.

"What are you two saying?"

"You two are always giving us so much trouble." Motoko followed suit.

Suddenly, Keitaro felt a slight tugging on his hand as Shinobu knelt down in front of him and Naru. "Sempai … I finally found you. You and Naru, you both passed the Toudai entrance exams."

"W-what?" was the only thing Naru and Keitaro could manage to say.

"You both passed! We even have pictures for proof!" Sarah yelled, forcing the pictures into Naru's hands.

Naru could only utter "I passed" as she stared at the pictures. Keitaro had to be struck in the back of the head to snap him out of his state of shock.

"All three of us passed." Mutsumi tearfully said to her two friends.

"WE PASSED!" Naru and Keitaro yelled as they embraced each other and began to jump around in celebration. The rest of the girls began to prepare some things for the first world famous Hinata party in the desert.

However, they weren't out of the woods yet. Tomorrow's the deadline to get Keitaro's information sent off to Tokyo U.

* * *

Nighttime – March 15th 2000

The entire Hinata crew was enjoying the celebration dinner at the café in town. And after the events of that day, who'd blame them. After spending the night in the oasis, the entire group had to get Keitaro back to Japan. Their only hope: get him back to town and on the flight to Tokyo. Luckily, Seta and his busted up van showed up just in time. After a few mishaps that stalled the trip, the group hurried to make into the airport in time. Upon arriving, two things went wrong: one, the flight to Japan had been delayed due to repairs and two, Naru had fallen ill from her time in the desert. Keitaro made a last-second choice to be at Naru's side and that, combined with his usual dose of bad luck, had caused him to miss the flight back to Japan. The group fell into despair since the day had just switched over to the 16th in Japan. At that point, Mutsumi informed them that the deadline was postal based and that it was still the 15th on Pararakelse. She hurriedly got her friend to the post office in time to mail off his test I.D. and other information and helping him fulfill his dream. Now, back to the present.

"Keitaro, Naru, Mutsumi, congratulations on your acceptance to Tokyo University!" the group yelled out.

"You see Keitaro, everything worked out for the best!" Su exclaimed.

"A lot of things have happened lately, but it's a good thing we got them solved!" Kitsune added.

"You're not kidding." Keitaro stated. He then noticed that the girls had calmed down and their cheerful faces were replaced by serious ones. "Hey, what's wrong?" Then, one by one, each of the girls (except Naru) took out folded sheets of paper and handed them to Keitaro. As he opened up and read each note one by one, a faint smile and stream of tears overtook the facial features of the young man.

Motoko stood up and broke the silence. "Urashima, we all have something we need to say. Over the past couple of weeks, we've had to find out the hard way about the results of some of our actions toward you. I'm thankful that you are still here with us so that we can tell you how deeply sorry we are for everything."

"We're sorry, Keitaro! Please forgive us!" the girls cried out in unison.

"Ya'll didn't have to get all serious with me and stuff. Of course I forgive you. The last few days have opened my eyes and made me realize how important each of you are to me." Keitaro paused and looked around at everyone at the table. "Thank you, everyone. For everything."

As the commotion and craziness started back up, Mutsumi pulled Naru and Keitaro to the side and took them to a small table out at the end of a pier. After a few drinks and some cheerful conversation, the rest of the group came to get them and get them to a hotel for the night. As the entire group started to walk away from the end of the pier, a voice caught all of them off guard.

"Don't tell that I missed the party? Man, I got bad timing." Everyone turned around to see the familiar, dark clad figure of Derrick on the edge of the pier. The most notable feature was the golden halo situated a few inches over the top of the black hat.

"Hey Derrick, what brings you here?" Keitaro asked as he turned around to face the other worldly spirit.

"I came to say goodbye. My time on Earth's up, so it's time for me to go see if I made it into Heaven. I wanted to stop by wish you luck with the rest of your life."

"Thanks. But will I ever get to see you again?"

"On Earth, I don't know. Maybe every once in a while I might get to return. I'm still trying to get that part worked out. If I ever do return, maybe I can help you get your fighting skills back up to par. You put up one hell of a fight last night, even if you didn't mean to." the Dark Angel responded.

"That doesn't sound too bad. Besides, it might come in handy in case the daily beatings resume." Keitaro joked.

"Hey, Derrick." Naru walked up to the Dark Angel and gave him a small peck on the cheek. "Thank you for everything you did for Keitaro."

"It was nothing. Beside, I had to make sure Keitaro hung around long enough to fulfill that childhood promise to you." Derrick just stood back and watched as Naru and Keitaro stared at each other in shock.

"You mean that Naru was the promised one all along!" Keitaro yelped. "But how did you find out."

"I was allowed to see very aspect of your life from birth until now when I took on this mission and uncovered that little bit of info. But listen, promises and love aside, you two better get to a confessional or pray for some forgiveness. I know what you two did last night and so does the Lord." He watched and laughed as a look of panic overtook both Naru and Keitaro. "I'm messing with you."

"Not funny Derrick!" The couple yelled in unison.

"I'm sorry. Couldn't resist it. Well, anyway, so long you two." Everyone stood in awe as a pair of magnificent white wings found their way out of Derrick's back. With a few massive flaps of his new wings, Derrick took off in flight toward the heavens.

"Goodbye! Thanks for helping Keitaro!" the rest of the group yelled out.

As Derrick made his way further into the dark sky, Gabriel soon joined him, with his wings stretched out in flight as well. "You did a very good job helping the Urashima man, Derrick."

"Thanks."

"By the way, how did you find out about what those two did last night?" Gabriel asked.

"What do mean what they did? I was only joking with them." Gabriel suddenly sent a few mental images of what happened to the Dark Angel and almost caused him to drop from the sky. "Oh my God! No wonder they looked like they were about to have a heart attack!"

"Relax, my friend. I'm sure it won't hurt your chances of getting into Heaven. Too much." the archangel added.

"Uh, about that. I know you said that I would be allowed into Heaven and all that, but I've been doing some serious thinking on that subject." Derrick said.

"And."

"And I been thinking that maybe it would be better if I remained on Earth as a Dark Angel."

Gabriel suddenly halted his flight and turned to talk to Derrick. "This will be a very serious issue to bring up whenever I go talk with God about your status. No Dark Angel who has succeeded in his mission has every asked to remain on Earth. We'll just have to wait and see how this works out."

* * *

The Next Day – Heaven

Derrick and his grandfather had been waiting all day for Gabriel to finish his meeting with God about his soul's status. Derrick was starting to grow worried. 'I knew he said it was a serious issue to bring up, but give me a break.' he thought to himself as he continued to sit on the edge of the fountain and catch up on things with his grandfather. The two's lengthy conversation was interrupted by the sight of Gabriel walking toward them.

"So what's the news? Am I staying here."

"Well, uh…no, you're not." Gabriel replied.

"He didn't do a good enough job, so he's being forced to go back to Earth." Derrick's grandfather replied.

"Well, not exactly."

"Gabriel, if I'm not staying here and not going back, then that means … OH NO!" Derrick was terrified of the thought of that dark destination.

"No, no, no! Look, its going to take a second to explain, so listen up. I want you to look in the fountain behind you Derrick."

Derrick did as he was instructed and looked into the crystal clear water. Suddenly, an image began to slowly form on the surface. As the image began to clear up, Derrick could now see the image of a person in a hospital bed, hooked up to a ventilator and a lot of other equipment around him. The person had long red hair and as the Dark Angel looked closer, he could just make out the black outline of the cross tattoo that wasn't covered by the sleeves of the hospital gown.

"Wait…that's me! But how is that possible!" Derrick yelled as he took a few steps away from the fountain.

"You must've forgotten that God is all-seeing and all-knowing. He figured that if everything worked out right, you would want to remain on Earth to be of more service to us. A very small portion of your spirit remained in your body after your demonic battle a few months ago, so he used that spirit to keep your body alive so you could return to it." Gabriel explained to a very stunned Derrick and his equally stunned grandfather.

"Return, to my old body, but that means …"

"You're getting a second chance to return to your life. Hopefully, you've learned your lesson." the archangel replied.

"I can't believe it. I, I…" Derrick's grandfather caught the youngster just in time to keep him from fainting.

"Well Derrick, you did a da-, I mean, darn good job, just like I thought you would. Goodbye boy, and be sure to say hello to everyone else for me."

"I'll try to remember. Bye Papa. It was good to see you again." Derrick sobbed as he hugged his grandfather one last time. After a few seconds, grandfather and grandson broke away from the embrace and Derrick turned his attention to Gabriel.

"Ready to go?" Derrick nodded in response to the question. "Alright, hang on tight." Gabriel said as a blinding aura of light soon engulfed the ex-Dark Angel. Within seconds, the youngster was gone.

* * *

Moments Later

Derrick's eyes slowly begin to open up and adjust to his new surroundings. The bright ceiling lights blinded him for a moment, but it soon passed. The sounds of the hospital equipment followed next. He felt so much different due to the weakened state of his body. He slowly began to move his hand and brought it up to the breathing tube in his mouth. With a steady grip, Derrick ripped the breathing tube away as he struggled to draw in breaths on his own. Then he slowly grabbed a hold of the railings on his bed and pulled himself up. A painful moan escapes the young boy as he sits up in the bed. It's at this point that he sees a beautiful young girl in a chair nearby, staring at the floor and oblivious to the now conscious person in the bed.

'It's all my fault. I drove him to this because of that fateful day. I knew that he cared for me, and all I did was rip the heart out of his chest.' the young girl thought to herself as the tears began to fall. 'He wanted to die because of what I did.'

"A-Ashleigh?" The young girl snapped her head up to see Derrick sitting up in the bed and with a dazed look on his face.

"Oh my God! Derrick!" She shot up out of the chair and ran to Derrick's bedside, clutching the young boy with a powerful embrace and knocking him back down.

"AAAAAHH! Not so hard!" the young Saiyan snapped.

"Sorry! God, I'm so sorry!"

"It's okay. Man, my body's still banged up pretty good. I'm sure you didn't mean to…"

"Not that Derrick! I meant I'm sorry about everything else!" Ashleigh sobbed. Derrick cringed at the thought of these memories. Ashleigh was one of the most important people in his young life, and when she and his best friend betrayed him, it was almost like his heart was ripped out of his chest. From that point up until his journey into the afterlife, hate dripped off of every word and action aimed at Ashleigh. Needless to say, Derrick felt really guilty for all of that now. The young Saiyan let out an exasperated sigh before he started to speak.

"I know what you did was very low." That certainly helped the young girl's mood. 'Idiot!' Derrick thought to himself as more and more tears left Ashleigh's eyes. "However, I forgive you. I just hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me for what I..." Derrick tried to say before he was cut off by Ashleigh pressing her lips against his. After a few seconds, they young girl pulled away, leaving a very stunned Derrick to ponder what the hell just happened.

"Of course I forgive you. I love you." She said as she wrapped her arms around Derrick's body. The young couple, for the next couple of minutes, were just content to lay on that hospital bed, exchanging kisses and sharing a gentle embrace.

"Oh, I hope I'm not interrupting anything?" Boy and girl both shot up and stared at the young doctor that just entered the room. "It seems that someone is doing a whole lot better."

"Yeah. It could be worse." Derrick replied.

"Yes, I'm sure. Young lady, I need you to leave the room for a minute while I run some tests. Why don't you go find his family so that they can see him." the doctor stated

"Okay." was the young girl's response as she bolted out of the room.

"Hmmm, it seems that your friend there is a little embarrassed, Derrick." the doctor stated as he stared back at the door.

"Wait, how do you…?" Derrick's question was answered when the doctor turned around to reveal a now familiar face. "Gabriel, you shady excuse of an angel. What brings you here?"

"Just thought I'd clear up any last questions you may have." the archangel responded.

"Fair enough. First, when can I go get my stuff off that island?" Derrick quipped in a joking manner.

"I've already returned your stuff to the places they were being kept at."

"Second, is my body still going to have the same properties that it had before all this crap started?"

"Yes, Derrick. Everything, from your intelligence to your powers, has remained perfectly intact during this time. In fact, when your soul returned to this body, some qualities of your replica body merged with this one."

"Qualities like?"

"I want you to recall when you got your wings the other day. Imagine the feeling of using your wings to soar across the night sky." Derrick did as he was instructed and, a few seconds later, had those same wings from the other night outstretched in all their glory. "You'll still have your wings, which you can summon and retract at any time. Your powers from both bodies have merged together, which will make you stronger in the future. And in a couple of days, a few of the angelic markings on your body will reappear as a sign of your decision and will remain with you for the rest of your days."

"Not a bad deal." Derrick said as he willed his wings back to their hiding place. "But what's the catch?"

"We still expect you to help others in an unselfish manner like you're supposed to. Well, I better go so that your family can see you."

"So long, Gabriel. Don't be a stranger now."

"I'll stop back by on Earth to see how you're doing. Goodbye, Derrick, and may the peace of God be with you." Gabriel then exited the room. After the door closed, Derrick could hear the muffled voice say "You can see him now." A split second later, the door those the room flew open as Derrick's family barged in and swarmed around the young boy.

* * *

A few weeks later – Hinata Sou

"Hey, we're back!" Kitsune's shout echoed through the building. She and the rest of the girls, back from their daylong trip to town, waited for a response from Keitaro and Naru. When none came, they began to search for the two. Moments later, they found Naru in the hot springs, caring on a conversation with an American girl.

"Naru-sempai, who is this stranger?" Motoko asked her.

"Girls, this is Ashleigh. She's here with a friend of Keitaro's." Naru replied.

"And where is this so called friend at?" Kitsune asked.

"Well, this friend volunteered to train Keitaro in fighting. We arrived here shortly after ya'll left and they have been gone since then." Ashleigh responded. Immediately after saying this, she looked up to the sky. "They just left the time chamber." She leaned over to tell Naru.

Motoko also sensed this reemergence of ki energy and looked upward as well. She soon sensed the two sources of this energy traveling at great velocity toward the inn. "Whoever these two are, they are heading this way fast." By this time, everyone was looking up to see Keitaro and Derrick plunging head first back toward Earth, trading punches and kicks the entire way down. Right before the moment of impact, both of them traded ki blasts that launched them to separate ends of the hot springs. Everyone stood in awe as both Keitaro and Derrick landed on their feet.

"I'm impressed, Keitaro. You've learned a lot during this time." Derrick spoke up.

"Thanks, although the cram session was a little much." Keitaro replied. The rest of the Hinata crowd couldn't help but continue staring at their manager. He looked stronger and more mature, more than the girls ever thought he would. The stares eventually got the better of him. "Well, I've got some chores to do, so I'd better get to work." Keitaro said as he headed back inside.

After Keitaro went inside, the rest of the girls began to strike up conversation with their American visitors. They share a little bit about their lives and reminisced a little bit about Motoko's battle against Derrick a while back. After a few minutes, however, a couple of the residents realized that someone was missing.

"Hey, wasn't Naru here a moment ago?" Su asked.

"That's strange. Where did she go?" Shinobu pondered out loud. The remaining girls (Ashleigh included) began to look around the hot springs area. Derrick, however, knew exactly what was going on.

'Oh man, if they find Keitaro and Naru, they'll never quit giving them hell.' Derrick broke away from his thoughts to analyze the situation and came up with a great idea. Motoko and Ashleigh were standing right in front of him, side by side. To top it off, Ashleigh was still wrapped in only a towel. "Forgive me Lord, for I am about to sin." Derrick said under his breath. In one quick movement, he snatched the towel off of Ashleigh, wound it up, and snapped her on her exposed backside with it. In almost the same amount of time, he wound it up again and snapped Motoko on the ass as well.

"Derrick, you conniving little…" Ashleigh trailed off as purple ki radiated from her body.

"Die, vile male!" Motoko shouted as she drew her sword.

"Yeah! Now we get to have some fun!" Su shouted as she pulled out a remote control. Seconds later, a giant Mecha-Tama appeared, armed with an impressive arsenal. "Come on, Motoko; let's get 'em!" She yelled as Motoko hopped onto the Mecha-Tama.

"Ya'll have to catch me first!" Derrick shouted as he powered up to Super Saiyan. A split second later, he was flying through the sky with the three girls in hot pursuit. Shinobu and Kitsune could only what from the hot springs in disbelief.

"Aaauuuuu! They're going to kill him if they keep this up!" Shinobu whined as ki blasts and rockets filled the sky above Hinata Sou.

'If I didn't know any better, I swear he did that for a reason.' Kitsune thought to herself.

* * *

During all of that…

Keitaro and Naru stumbled across her bedroom to her bed, kissing and pulling off clothes in the process.

"Keitaro?"

"Yeah."

"What are we going to do if they catch us?"

"Don't worry. Judging by the sounds out there, Derrick's causing a very good distraction." Keitaro replied as the couple fell onto the bed.

After many minutes passed, the exhausted pair just laid there on the bed, wrapped in each others' arms.

"I love you, Keitaro."

"I love you too, Naru."

"Ara, this is such a heartwarming moment." This caused Naru and Keitaro to sit up and see an all-to-familiar face staring through the hole in the floor.

"MUTSUMI, GET OUT OF HERE!" the young couple shouted as they tried to cover themselves up.

* * *

**A/N – Sorry for waiting so long to update. In the course of the past month, I had to switch to another ISP, help my parents keep my niece for a week, and work 40 hours a week. Long story short, I haven't had much time to write fanfics. Anyway, the next chapter will be the last one for this fic and will basically wrap everything up. Also, stay tuned for more stuff in the future, including another Love Hina fic.**

**- OD**


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